Fallen Star
by Dark Waffle
Summary: She was like a falling star. Falling so fast, at speeds unknown; yet, was so rare and magnificent. He never took his eyes off her, because he knew the second he turned away, she would be gone.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Because I was inspired to do this by the song****_ Little Lady_**** by Ed Sheeran ft. MiKill Pane.**

**This was so long. It was like 40 pages, 20k+ words. I didn't realize how much I had written until I was done. It was originally suppose to be a long one shot, but it ended up being too long for a one shot, so now it's a two shot.**

**The next part will be uploaded once I'm done going over the revisions and what not.**

**You should check out my other FT stories,****_ Christmas Blues_**** and ****_Beauty and the Dragon_****, while you're at it.**

**I don't own ****_Fairy_****_Tail _****or any of it's contents.**

"Speech"  
_'Thoughts'_  
_"Flashbacks/Dreams"_

**_Fallen Star_**

**_-O-_**

_"She is like a falling star who has finally found_  
_her place next to another in a lovely constellation,_  
_where they will sparkle in the heavens forever."  
_- Amy Tan

**_-O-_**

He remembered the first time he saw her. She was wearing the elementary school uniform. She had short, blonde hair the reached up to her shoulders, and these innocent brown eyes. She had one of the prettiest smiles he had ever seen, albeit, he was only six then.

The teacher introduced her to the class and she was overly excited to meet everyone.

_"Hi! I'm Lucy Heartfilia! I'm excited to meet you all!"_

She adapted easily at the primary level at Fairy Tail Academy. She practically was friends with everyone in his class the moment she sat down. He remembered that her and the bookworm Levy got along instantly. He remembered how easily she got along with the scary Erza. And how she just laughed at his arch enemy's stripping habit.

Everyone loved her. She was kind, smart, and funny. She light up the world with her laughter and never once did he ever see her smile falter.

He remembered the first time he had actually _met_ her. They were in class, writing their letters to Santa because it was Christmas time. Back when he was in elementary school, he was somewhat of a quiet child. He never really spoke and when he did, he was mean. He didn't like to get along with people. But it was all because of his problems at home.

And one day, she just jumped into his life.

_"Hi! You're Natsu right? Natsu Dragneel?"_

_The pink haired boy looked over at the blonde haired girl. He scoffed, covering his mouth with his favorite white scarf he always wore and turned away from her, trying to hide his letter. He gave her a glare, hoping she would go away just like everyone else._

_"Go away." He spat at her._

_"I'm Lucy! Lucy Heartfilia!"_

_He rolled his eyes as he turned back towards her. He gave her this dead panned look and had this sudden urge to flick her._

_"I know who you are, Luigi. Now go away." He went back to his letter and continued writing._

_"That's not my name!" She smacked him, which caused a few people to turn around and gasp at her._

He had a reputation for being somewhat aggressive and starting fights. People often picked on him because of his pink hair, which he always said was salmon colored when he was younger. So, when people hit them, his first instinct was to hit them back.

"What the hell?" He turned towards the blonde haired girl and who was looking at him with fire in her usually joyous brown eyes.

_"My name is __**Lucy. LUCY.**__ Get it right!" She put her hands at her hips and stuck her tongue out at him. His urge to hit her was coming back again._

_"I don't care." He glared back at her but she didn't budge. At this point, people usually scrambled away from him._

_But she didn't._

_"Does it look like I care that you don't care?"_

And that was when he first started hating Lucy Heartfilia. Everything she did, from talking to breathing to eating bugged him. He was irritated by every small little thing. He would pull at her hair and dirty her uniform on purpose. He was such a brat to her.

He remembered that she also, did not go down easy. No. She fought him back. She was stubborn and never gave up. And he hated that about her. Because he was the same exact way. He teased her, fought with her, and made her look like a fool in front of people, but she never cried, never pouted, never gave up. She just gave him this cute little glare and fired insults back at him all the time.

The stripper used to laugh at him for always getting teased by Lucy and he would always fight back with him and they would go back and forth until Erza broke them up. When Erza got involved, that's when you knew that things got serious.

It wasn't until a certain incident that he realized he had judged Lucy for all the wrong reasons.

_Natsu was sitting in detention for hitting a few kids who teased him about his pink hair. He didn't understand why __**he **__was getting in trouble when it was obviously the other kids fault. But of course, everyone blamed Natsu._

_Just like his parents._

_His parents always blamed him for everything that went wrong in their life. He bit his lip to stop himself from crying. Boys didn't cry. So he did what he always did when he was upset. He took out a piece of paper and drew. For some odd reason, he loved to draw, especially dragons._

_He was absolutely fascinated by dragons. He thought that dragons were the most amazing creatures on earth. He thought it was so cool how they breathed fire and were so humongous and strong. He wanted to grow up to be a dragon._

_Dragons and the white scarf wrapped around his neck were the only thing that he held valuable to him._

_"Whoa, that's really good!"_

_He went wide eyed as he heard a voice right next to his ear. He jumped back, hiding his drawing from the stranger who invaded his privacy. He pressed his drawing to his chest and glared at the person who disturbed him from his art._

_But instead, he went wide eyed at the person standing in front of him._

_It was none other than the girl he hated the most: Lucy Heartfilia._

_"What are __**you**__ doing here!" He yelled at her. But instead of glaring at him or yelling at him like she usually did, she shifted uncomfortably and blushed slightly. He was utterly confused._

_"I just came to see if you were okay." She mumbled really fast, really quietly. But he heard it. He blushed also, confused to why __**she**__ out of all people came to see if he was okay._

_"I'm fine!" He yelled back at her. He turned away from her, still hiding his drawing. Dragons and drawing were his way of escaping the pain and it was very personal for him._

_"Are you sure? Those guys looked big."_

_She had saw? She saw him get beat up?_

_"Yeah so what! I could handle them easily! They just cheated that's all!" He countered, his rash and aggressive behavior beginning to come out. At this point, people would flinch and run away, but again, she stayed._

_She giggled. "I know, Natsu. You're really tough!"_

_He blushed ten shades of red as she tilted her head at him. Why was she being so nice to him? All he ever did was be mean to her. All he ever did was insult her, tease her, hurt her. Why?_

_"Ye-yeah I am!" He wasn't sure how to handle this situation. He had never experienced this before. His parents never acted like this with him. Nobody at school even gave him a chance. He was always alone._

_"By the way, Natsu. I like your pink hair." She smiled at him and his heart was beating loudly in his chest. "And, you'd make an awesome dragon!"_

And from that day on, he fell completely in love with Lucy Heartfilia. Of course, he didn't know it then because he was only six years old, but she changed his whole world. No one had ever, ever complimented his hair the way she did. Of course, he got all defensive about it and shoved her away, but from then on, their entire relationship/friendship changed.

He was a changed boy. He started to smile more. He started to hang out with other people more. He stopped fighting so much, though his aggressive nature didn't really go away. He started to actually love life. And it was all because of Lucy.

He never really let people in. He put up walls and locked himself away deep in his own hole. His parents never really helped him open up. If anything, they always made him feel useless and nothing but scum. They constantly left him alone and when they were home, they called him awful words like_ 'shit head'_ or _'piece of shit.'_ They never really hit him or anything, except one or two slaps here and there, but they never loved him. They were always saying how he ruined them and made their life hell.

The only good thing that ever came from home was the white scarf he always wore. One day, his father had come home _sober_. Actually sober and coherent. He gave him a sweet smile and ruffled his pink hair and gave him something that he cherished always.

_Natsu heard the heavy footsteps of his father and immediately stilled. His father was home. That meant that he was going to reprimand him again, probably degrade him like he always had. The pink boy who was already emotionally damaged mentally prepared himself for a possible lecture as the door opened._

_But the dragon obsessor was surprised at what came next._

_"Oh hey Natsu!"_

_"D-Dad?" His father was staring at him with the same onyx eyes as his. He had dark, red hair and a smile on his face. Natsu's eyes almost bulged out of his eyes as he realized his father was actually not drunk._

_"I have something for you, son." He walked over to Natsu, who was sitting on his bed. He sat down next to him and pulled a white scarf. Natsu marveled at it. This was the first time he had ever gotten anything from his father. __**EVER**__._

_"Here you go. I saw it and I figured you'd want it." He wrapped it around Natsu's neck. The pink haired boy snuggle into the warmness of the scarf. He wanted to cry. His father had never done things like this before. And he really liked this feeling._

_"Th-thanks Dad! I like it a lot!"_

And for once in Natsu's short life, Natsu's father gave him an actual smile. One that Natsu gladly smiled back at.

To say he was disappointed when his father woke up the next day and patronized him was an understatement. Natsu felt his heart being ripped apart as his father glared over at him with those dark, black eyes. He just wanted his father back. He wanted the nice man that gave him the scarf back.

The only reason he kept the scarf was because it was a reminder that the gentle, caring man that had given him the scarf was in there somewhere. And it gave him hope that he would come back some day.

But that day never came.

He hated being home and Lucy knew it. He didn't know how, but she knew it. She didn't know anything about his home life. Well, he never told her anything, but somehow, she knew.

_It was summer in Magnolia and the elementary school children of Fairy Tail Academy were out and about causing trouble as always. They were eight years old now, being two years since the blonde haired girl arrived at Fairy Tail._

_Erza led a group of children into the small forest to see who was the bravest of them all. Of course, Natsu was the first to volunteer and spew out his signature saying "I'm all fired up!" Gray Fullbuster, aka the stripper, teased him as usual and the two began fighting until Erza had to split them up._

_Erza told Natsu to stay behind and she would take him when she got back, to which he was not happy about. It wasn't until Lucy had grabbed his ear and pulled him away towards a bench that he complied. She sat him down and nagged at him for being reckless, to which he argued about how he wanted to show that he was the strongest out of all of them._

_"Neh, Natsu?"_

_"What's up, Luce?" Luce had been the nickname he had given her a year and a half ago after they became friends; best friends actually._

_"Why do you always want to be the strongest?" Her voice was really low and she looked at him with those same concerned eyes she had always given him when he was getting himself in trouble._

_"Because I'm Natsu Dragneel! And I'm going to be a dragon when I grow up so I have to be the strongest!" He smiled at her as he fist pumped the air. She giggled a bit, putting a hand on his shoulder._

_"Natsu, is everything okay at home?"_

_At the instance, he froze. Fear washed over him and he bit down on his lip. He felt exposed, invaded, vulnerable. This was the first time anybody had asked him about his home life. And he wasn't sure he was ready to let anybody in about it._

_"What? Stop being a weirdo, Luce!" He laughed, nervously. He shrugged her hand off her shoulder. She looked at him with concern and he turned away from her._

_"It's just- it's just, your mom and dad are never around. And, when people talk about their parents, you never really do. Even on parent nights, I never see you there."_

_The pink haired boy remained quiet. He bit down on his lip and clenched his fist in his hands. Why was Lucy so curious about his home life all of a sudden? Why did it matter? He didn't want her to know. He didn't want her to know how dysfunctional everything was. He didn't want her to know how broken he truly was. She put him back together. Why was she trying to dig into something he already locked away?_

_"It's none of your business." He spat, wincing at how harsh his own words were. He didn't dare look at her. He didn't want to see hurt in those brown eyes of hers._

_"Natsu… I just-just want to help you." He heard her mumble._

_He shut his eyes and stood up abruptly. "I don't need your help!"_

_He could hear her stand up behind him and grab onto his arm. "Natsu… I just want to know so I can understand you better."_

_Why did she have to be so nice! Why did she have to be so caring? Why couldn't she just leave it!?_

_"I don't want you too!" He lashed out at her as he pushed her away from him. "I don't need you to fix me!"_

_"I'm not trying to fix you, baka! I just want you to let me in!" She argued with him, obviously. Lucy was his best friend and she meant everything to him. She was the only person who tried to get to know him. She was the only person who even bothered befriending him._

_"I don't want to let you in! Don't you get that!"_

_He glared down at her with his dark, onyx eyes. Her eyes went wide, but not with fear, or repulsion, or anger._

_But with hurt._

_His eyes went wide at his own words. Did he really just say that to her? Of course he wanted to let her in. But he was afraid. He was afraid that she would just shut him out once she saw how terrible he really was._

_And he really was a terrible person because he hurt the only person whoever gave a damn about him. He hurt the only person who got to know the real Natsu Dragneel. He hurt the only person who actually gave him a reason for the life he was living._

_Not being able to face his words, he turned and ran from her. He ran far from her. He could have even swore he heard her call out to him. But he ignored it. Because he truly was a terrible person. Just like the kids at school who picked on him said. Just like the teachers use to say. Just like his parents use to say._

He remembered how he avoided her like the plague. Whenever he would see her from afar, he would walk the other way. In class, he sat on the opposite side of her. He could feel eyes on him all the time. People were constantly staring at him again. People were talking about him again.

The stripper yelled at him and told him to apologize to Lucy for whatever he did. Obviously, he just shot Gray down and punched him, telling him to mind his own business. Erza cornered him and told him that Lucy was good for him and he shouldn't push someone as good as her away. Levy didn't speak to him since they never really spoke all that much. But she would give him this unwavering look that made him feel uneasy.

He avoided her for days, but it was so hard. He remembered how he desperately wanted to run up to her and apologize for him being such a jerk. He wanted to tell her everything but he was so afraid. He was afraid of what she would think of him, of what she would say. He knew he was being a coward, even when he was eight years old. But he couldn't deal with it if Lucy looked at him with the same eyes that his teachers, that some kids at school did, that his parents did. Anybody but Lucy.

And then one day, Lucy missed school.

He remembered from the first day he met her, she had never missed school. He was so confused because even though he had been avoiding her, he would still make sure she was there. And one morning, she wasn't.

_"I wonder where Lu-chan is." Lucy's other best friend, Levy McGarden asked with a sigh as she sat with her two friends, Jet and Droy. The pink haired boy heard her and he too was wondering the same thing. He buried his nose into his scarf as worry flashed through his mind._

_"I'm sure she's fine Levy!" Jet said in assurance as he gave her the thumbs up._

_"Yeah! She's probably just sick or something!" Droy added as he bit down on his sandwich._

_Natsu could hear Levy say something along the lines of "You're probably right," and concerned washed over him. How sick was she? Was she really sick? Was she in the hospital? Was she dying? The onyx eyed boy was so caught up in his thoughts that he failed to realize the voice calling out to him._

_"-tsu!"_

_The pink haired boy snapped out of his despairing thoughts and looked up to come face to face with a white haired girl. She had shiny blue eyes and short, white hair. This girl was Lisanna Strauss. She was famous around Fairy Tail Academy because of her two older siblings, Eflman Strauss and Mirajane Strauss._

He had met them before. Elfman was somewhat of a brute and always started off his sentences with "If you're a man!" But he was pretty cool when you got to know him better. Mirajane was the oldest of the three. She use to be really frightening, like Erza, when she was their age. Her and Erza use to fight all the time just like how he and the underwear freak fought. But one day, Mira changed into a totally different person after Lisanna got sick. He remembered that she was out for a few weeks because she caught a cold that turned into something bad and ever since then, Mira did a complete 180. She changed into the sweetest, most motherly person anybody could meet. Mira loved Lucy the instant she met her.

He didn't really talk to Lisanna until Lucy showed up. Before Lucy showed up, he ignored everyone. Except for the stripper and Erza, nobody talked to him. But once he broke out of his shell and began to talk to everyone, Lisanna became one of his many friends.

_"What do you want?" He said, a little more forceful than he meant._

_"Do you know where Lucy is? Mira-nee is worried about her."_

_At that question, he could feel everyone staring at him. Everybody was wondering where Lucy was. Everyone loved Lucy. And they probably hated him because of the way he was treating her._

_"I don't know where she is." He mumbled under his breath with a glare._

_"Oh. Well, okay." He felt the eyes leave him and could almost hear the disappointment in their sighs or voices._

_Natsu thought Lisanna left, but instead, she remained in front of him. "Natsu?"_

_He looked up to her with a pout and his arms crossed. She smiled at him and all he could see was Lucy._

_"If you need someone to talk too, I'm here for you." At that moment, the pink haired moment went wide eyed. He liked Lisanna, but she was not Lucy. Lucy was the person who brought him out of his darkness. If he couldn't even talk to Lucy, what made Lisanna think he would talk to her?_

_He got up and he could hear Lisanna ask him what was wrong. All the pink haired boy thought about was Lucy and if she was okay. He needed to make sure she was okay. He turned away from the white haired girl and walked out the classroom, going nowhere in particular._

_"What's his problem?" The person Natsu deemed the stripper, Gray Fullbuster, asked._

_The ferocious Erza Scarlet looked over at the door Natsu had just walked out of with concern. She cared for the boy like a little brother. She had grown a lot closer to him since the day Lucy had arrived. Both were very important to her._

_She looked over at Lisanna and saw the sadness in her eyes. She knew that Lisanna had a crush on Natsu and had one for the longest time, but she never approached him because she figured that Natsu and Lucy liked each other._

_And speaking of Lucy, the scarlet titania worried for her profoundly. Lucy was like her little sister and she had grown very close to her. Lucy never missed school and if she was sick, she would have to go visit her._

_Outside the classroom, Natsu was walking around, sulking over the fact that Lucy wasn't in school. He looked down at the ground as he thought about every reason she could not be at school. And as every reason got more worrisome, he grew more concerned. Natsu bit down on his lip, clutched onto his white scarf, and kicked the wall next to him. He wanted to see Lucy now more than ever._

Lucy didn't show up the next day or the day after that or the day after that. She was gone for a whole week. And everybody was worried. Nobody had heard from Lucy. Both Levy and Erza tried calling Lucy but she didn't answer. The underwear freak suggested they all showed up at her house and everyone like the idea.

He remembered the emptiness he felt without her. Without Lucy, he wasn't Natsu Dragneel. At least, not the one he was now. He was so worried, he couldn't sleep or eat. He was constantly thinking about her and what could make her be gone for a whole week. Even his parents who never put attention to him noticed his strange behavior.

Everyone was set to go to her house and make sure she was okay. They were going to go the next day. He wasn't sure at the time if he was going to go because he knew that he had hurt her and wasn't sure if she even wanted to see him. But he really wanted to see her to make sure she was okay.

But their plans got put to a halt because the headmaster of Fairy Tail Academy himself, Makarov Dreyar, came into their classroom for a special visit.

_"As you brats might know, I am Makarov Dreyar, headmaster of Fairy Tail Academy!" His voice boomed into the room. But Natsu didn't think he was anything special. He was a short, as in very short, old man, with white hair and a white mustache._

_"I am here to inform you all of your classmate, Lucy Heartfilia."_

_At the mention of Lucy's name, everyone in the class exploded with questions. The pink haired watched in awe as everyone was questioning the master. He had no idea that this many people cared for Lucy. He could see Levy shouting for answers, the stripper pounding on the table, demanding where Lucy was and others that he had no idea Lucy talked too._

_"__**SILENCE!**__"_

_The class went deathly silent as the tiny headmaster boomed over the entire class. Even the pink haired boy went wide eyed at how quickly this classroom went quiet._

_"Master Makarov." Natsu watched as Erza stood from her seat and with a confident gaze, stared at the headmaster with strong eyes._

_"Please tell us, is Lucy okay?"_

_Natsu held his breath, waiting for the headmaster's answer. He heard the Makarov say something about Erza and her reputation and how she would aspire here at Fairy Tail but he really didn't put attention. Not until he heard him say his favorite blonde's name._

_"Lucy is fine. She is just taking some personal time. Her family is currently undergoing something and as some of you might or might not know, Lucy's family is very well known around the country of Fiore."_

_The dragon obsessor sighed in relief, along with the rest of the class. Lucy was alright. She was fine. He hadn't ever felt so relief, so happy. As long as Lucy was fine, everything would be fine._

_"She will return soon, but as of right now, let her be."_

The headmaster left and everyone was happy with the news they received. Lucy was okay and everybody was happy. He remembered that Mira was ecstatic when Lisanna told her. Cana, another friend who was in Mira's age group that Lucy had gotten along with really well, was happy. Little did they know then that everything was going to change and the Lucy they knew was gone.

It had been about a week and half since Lucy was last seen. But everybody was okay because of the headmaster's message. But deep inside, Natsu felt that something was wrong. The blonde was gone a lot longer than he thought she would be. He wanted to go to her house and just see her already but he remembered that he wasn't talking to her and was ignoring her.

_"Lucy!"_

_Natsu whipped his head towards the door and there was his best friend. In the flesh. She was back. She was finally back. He saw Levy rush up to her and hug her tightly. Erza was right behind her and Gray too. He was sure that Mira and Cana would come by later to greet her._

_He couldn't see her fully, but he could see her blonde hair and part of her with the school uniform. He wanted to go up to her so badly. He wanted to stop ignoring her. But he couldn't. He had to protect her from the terrible person he was._

_"Just go talk to her."_

_There was Lisanna again. She was encouraging him to stop being a coward and just tell her he was sorry._

_"I know you've missed her. She's probably missed you too." His heart clenched at that. He bit down on the inside of his cheek and was having an internal war in his mind. Should he talk to her? Or should he just continue ignoring her? What if he lashed out on her again? What if he said something he didn't mean?_

_When people finally gave her room to walk, he watched her with fixed eyes. He watched as she stepped out of the crowd and when he finally saw her face, his heart dropped to his stomach._

_Something was wrong._

_Something was very wrong._

_Lucy's bright, shining brown eyes were now lifeless and dull. Her smile was… broken. She was deathly pale and she had dark bags under her eyes. She wasn't smiling. Lucy was always smiling. How could anyone not notice this change?_

_What happened to his Lucy? What happened to that happy, go lucky, outgoing girl? How did anyone not notice this? He watched her as she sat down in her seat, on the other side of the room. She was smiling at Levy, who was saying something about missing her so much but it was so painful and forced. How was Levy missing it?!_

_She was only eight years old. Why was she looking like that?_

_It was then Lucy spoke that he caught a lump in his throat. Her voice was so hoarse, so dead. She was not at all sounding like the girl he had met two years ago. Where was that fierce verocity? That challenging, sweet voice? Where was it?_

_Where was Lucy Heartfilia?_

He remembered being so confused. How could anyone not see what he saw? He remembered thinking. Were they so caught up with Lucy being back that they didn't see the change? That was all that ran through his mind. And while he was so busy worrying about Lucy, he was also worrying about if the selfish person he was would make her worse. He was fighting two battles in his mind and he was losing both. He was caught up in his own problems that he failed to be there for the person that needed him the most.

_"Natsu."_

_Pulled out of his thoughts, Natsu looked up to see Erza standing next to him with this scary look on her face. He wasn't scared of anyone, not the bully Laxus with his stupid gang that had three others in it, some green haired freak named Freed, or some weirdo doll obsessor named Bixlow, or this sassy, mean girl named Evergreen. He wasn't the least scared of them, but Erza. No. Erza scared the hell out of him._

_"Erza!" He gulped, wondering what she was going to do to him._

_"I'm sure you've noticed."_

_Natsu stilled. So he wasn't the only one who noticed? Or was she even talking about that?_

_"Wh-what?" He stuttered._

_"Don't play dumb, Natsu. You've noticed, haven't you?" She pounded her hand on the table, which scared the crap out of him. But he noticed this sort of… desperation in her voice. Erza seemed… confused? Lost?_

_"I-I have no idea what you're talking about!" He defended himself._

_"You haven't noticed how strange Lucy has been acting?"_

_The air suddenly became very thin and he couldn't breathe. So he wasn't the only one who noticed. Of course he should have figured that Erza would realize it. She was Erza Scarlet. She was deadly and smart._

_He frowned, pushing his brows together. He clenched his fist together, suddenly feeling very upset. He didn't know what to feel. He was only eight years old! He shouldn't be feeling all these things! He shouldn't have to worry about any of these things! The only thing he should be worrying about it what prank he would play on his teacher or friends next!_

_"Yeah… I noticed."_

_"You have to talk to her, Natsu." He went wide eyed at Erza's comment. "You're the only one who could possibly figure out what's going on with her. You're the only she trust wholeheartedly."_

_He wanted to tell Erza that she was wrong and Lucy probably never wanted to see him again. He wanted to tell her that he would only make things worse and that he was a bad person and someone like her or Mira should try and figure out what happened to her because they were better people._

_"I don't know what happened between you two, but the bond you two share is much stronger than that, Natsu. You and Lucy have something special. You might think that you are bad, but you aren't. And Lucy knows that. It's like I said, Lucy is good for you. She was there for you when none of us weren't. Now it's time for you to be there for her."_

_The onyx eyed boy soaked in everything Erza said. He wondered how she was so wise at eight years old but that left his mind quickly. He was hanging onto every word Erza spoke. Lucy didn't think he was bad? Erza didn't know what he said to her! How would she possibly know what Lucy's feeling now? But Erza also did have a point. Lucy stayed by his side when nobody else did. The blonde haired girl turned him into who he was._

_And he had to return the favor. He had to show Lucy that he wasn't going anywhere. He wasn't running away anymore. He would tell her everything. He would tell her everything she wanted to know and he would listen to everything she wanted him to know. He would make everything up to her._

_He gave Erza one of his signature grins that light up the room. "Thanks Erza! I'm all fired up!" He ran off and left the scarlet girl behind him. He could hear her mumble something, but not clear enough. He shook it off and ran to find Lucy. He had to see her at this moment. Even if she wasn't at school anymore, he would go to her house and find her._

_"Go, Natsu."_

Lucy wasn't at school anymore. She had left. All he was thinking back then was "find Lucy!" He didn't care about anything else at the moment. All he wanted was to see Lucy. He left school and ran towards her house. He remembered he went over once when Lucy had invited them over for her seventh birthday party. It was such a big house. Her dad was kind of scary, but her mom was beautiful. And she was so nice. She was elegant and so motherly. He was so jealous of Lucy for having such a caring mother. And Lucy looked exactly like her.

_He ran all the way towards Lucy's house. By the time he got there, the sun was setting. The gates were closed and the gigantic house was dark. There was only two lights on. One was downstairs and he could see a tall man walking back and forth. He figured it was Lucy's dad. The other was on the second story and it was dimly light. He pushed the gate open and ran sneakily across the yard to her window. He looked around to find something he could climb up to her window with._

_At this point, he wished he was a dragon so he could use his wings to fly to her window. He sat in contemplation trying to figure out how he could possibly get to her window._

_He looked up at the balcony. He could climb the vines on the side of the house. That was an idea. Or, he could just knock. But her parents would probably get really mad at him being over so late; especially her dad. Her dad was scary. He looked at him a lot with a mean look when he came over for the birthday party. He thinks it was because he was with Lucy like the entire time._

_Shaking the idea from this thoughts, the pink haired boy then stood up, deciding he would climb up to the balcony with the vines. He grabbed a hold of one and tugged it, making sure it supported his weight. Luckily, it did. He knew if the vine were to snap or break, he was done for. He gulped to himself as that thought came to mind. He still had a lot to do in his life. He couldn't die._

_With all the strength and courage he had, he hauled himself up and climbed the side of the house towards her balcony. With two or three slip ups, he made it carefully to the top. He was heaving and sweaty, thinking that with each step he would have fell to his death. He gripped tightly to the railing of the balcony and jumped over. Fixing himself, he walked over to the large window and peeked inside._

_Lucy was sitting on a chair in front of a desk. She was resting her head in her arms. He could see a pen resting in her hand. Was she writing some sort of letter or something? He thought to himself. She was probably doing homework and fell asleep. He bit down on his lip, not sure if he should wake her up. But, he did come all the way here for her so he didn't want to make it not worth it._

_He raised his fist and knocked on the window softly. She didn't move. He knocked harder. Still didn't move. He knocked a little harder. No movement._

_Maybe she really was asleep?_

_He was going to try one more time._

_He knocked again, harder and faster than the first few times. And when he was done, she rose her head. His heart rate sped up as she rubbed her eyes and he stopped himself from breathing. He was suddenly feeling very nervous. What would Lucy say to him? Would she make him leave? Did she even want to talk to him anymore? Did she even want to be his friend anymore?_

_The blonde haired girl pushed herself off her desk and jumped down. She was standing there, something that confused Natsu. Why was she just standing there? He didn't understand. Obviously, she didn't see him. So he decided to knock again._

_And when he did, she turned towards the window. She went wide eyed, almost as if she was amazed he was there. He went goggle eyed at her also. She had red, puffy eyes. She was crying. Why was she crying? He had never seen Lucy cry before. He had never seen Lucy without a smile before._

_There was a lot he didn't see Lucy do._

_They both stared at each other, neither making a movement. Natsu decided to be courageous again and smiled sheepishly at her before waving. He hoped that would be enough to let Lucy know he was here to talk, to listen. The blonde walked towards him, reaching for the lock on the window, before opening it. When she did open it, she stepped back. He walked in and close the window shut behind him._

_They both just looked at each other again, trying to figure out if this was really happening. Lucy was still looking at him with an incredulous gaze on her puffy face. She couldn't believe he was here. And it was all his fault for pushing her away._

_"Natsu? What are you doing here?" She asked him, her voice low and hesitant._

_"I-" but he stopped midway. What was he going to say? Why did he have to even think about this? He was just a little kid. He just wanted to run around and go play._

_"I'm sorry, Luce." He started, "I'm sorry for yelling at you and saying those mean things! I didn't mean them! I was just mad and I don't really like talking about my parents, but now! Now I am! And whatever you wanna know, I'll tell you because you're my best friend Luce! And best friends stick together! We're a team you know? And I haven't really been a good teammate by ignoring you and all, but-"_

_But Natsu was cut off by Lucy, who enveloped him in a hug. The impact was so strong, they both fell to the floor. Natsu fell against the wall, with Lucy deep in his chest. She had her arms wrapped around his waist and he could hear her crying again. He was beginning to panic. This was not what he wanted. He didn't want to make her cry! He didn't know what to do and Lucy's sobs were getting louder. He didn't want her parents to come in and see him in her room. That would be terrible!_

_"Lucy! Don't cry! I'm sorry! I'll leave! If I'm just making you sadder! Please, don't cry!" He tried soothing her as he padded down on her shoulders. He could feel her move against him and she pulled back, tears still streaming down her face._

_"Na-Natsu," she sobbed, "my Ma-Mama died."_

_And with that, Natsu's world came crashing down._

He could remember it like it was yesterday. He couldn't move. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't believe what Lucy was saying to him. He sat in shock while Lucy explained through her sobs about how her mother had gotten really sick and she had to go to the hospital because she was throwing up blood and one day, when Lucy was reading to her, she coded.

Lucy had watched the doctors stick needles in her arm, push drugs in her mother's body, and zap her as they tried bringing her back to life. She watched as they stuck a tube down her mouth and throw all these foreign words around. She couldn't understand what was going on. She was just a scared little eight year old girl who watched her mother die right in front of her.

He couldn't remember how long he sat there with Lucy while she cried in his arms. He remembered he held her tight and rubbed the back of her head while she desperately clutched onto him. And he even cried too, along with her. His shirt was soaked through the bone, but he didn't care either. Just like Erza had told him, how he told himself; he was going to be there for Lucy, no matter what. And that had never changed. Even after all these years.

And now that he was older, he understood perfectly well why Lucy was so broken. Lucy loved her mother with everything she had. She use to talk about her all the time. She always said how wonderful she was, how loving she was, how amazing she was. Lucy's whole world had came crashing down on her. Her whole world was flipped upside down. What was a little girl without a mother? Who would dress her? Play dress up with her? Do her make up? Dry her tears away when she was sad? Who would she talk about her first crush with? Who would help her get ready for dances? For her graduation? For her wedding?

Because of his complicated family life, he didn't really understand but even then, he knew Lucy lost something very precious to her.

But he didn't want to lose something precious to him either. He vowed at the time to always protect her and be there for her. And he did.

That night, everything changed between them.

When Lucy stopped crying, he told her _everything_. He told her everything about himself, about his family and how they didn't care for him and how they would rather drink and do drugs then take care of him. He told her about his white scarf and exactly _why_ he held it so important to him. He told her about how insecure and afraid he was about she would look at him different and that was why he pushed her away. He told her about how much he missed her and he apologized over and over until she finally spoke after hours of silence.

_"It's okay, Natsu. I forgive you." She said, shakily. "Thank you for telling me everything. It made me feel a lot better." She stopped talking, making the pink haired boy concerned. "I thought you hated me." She whispered. Natsu felt his chest tighten._

_"I thought you hated me again and after Mama died, I felt so alone. Like I had no one."_

And that was the last time he had ever wanted her to feel that way.

_"I could never hate you, Lucy! You're my best friend and best friend's never leave each other behind! I will NEVER leave you alone, Luce. You will never be alone! EVER!" He gave her the most cheesiest, heartwarming smile she had ever seen._

_And she smiled._

_Even if it was a small smile, she had smiled genuinely._

Time obviously flew by and Lucy had gotten better. She returned back to the same loving, cheerful, go get em girl she was before. But he knew that a part of her was lost forever. He didn't blame her. She had lost someone who meant the world to her. He watched her carefully every day and stayed by her side always. She eventually ended up telling Levy and Erza, which ended up being a sob fest. He didn't stick around for that, but was near by just in case Lucy needed him.

Soon everybody learned about what happened to Lucy and everybody at Fairy Tail that knew her ended up helping her recover in some ways. Obviously, he was there the most, but he was glad to see how many people actually cared for the blonde haired girl.

_"Lucy! If you ever need anything, anything at all, just ask okay?" Mira consulted as she hugged Lucy. Natsu watched as the blonde wiped away tears from her eyes._

_"I will. Thanks Mira!"_

He remembered the first time he saw the bruises.

They were ten years old. They were outside playing for PE and when she reached for the soccer ball, he shirt rode up and there were dark, ugly purple bruises on her back. Being the stupid kid he was back then, he had no idea what they were. He figured it was like marker or something. He then saw them again, but on her arms the next time around. This time, he got really confused and wondered why she would write on her arms.

_It was the summer time and it was really hot outside. Natsu was sitting under the vent where the cold air was blowing. He had fought off the stripper for this air vent just a little while ago and now it was all his._

_The only thing that bugged him was why in the world was Lucy wearing her long sleeved shirt? And high knee socks? It was like a million degrees outside! What was she thinking?_

_"Luce! Are you crazy right now! Why are you wearing a long sleeved shirt and your high socks!" Natsu called out to her as he loosened his tie and took off his scarf so he wasn't suffocating._

_"I'm not that hot!" She said. He looked over at her with a questioning glance. "Besides Natsu! You're such a pyro! You love this weather!"_

_"Lucy has a point, flame brain! Let me use the vent!" Gray commented as he jumped up from his chair, only in boxers. Gray's stripping habit had only gotten worse as they got older. Lucy laughed._

_"No way droopy eyes! I won fair and square!" Natsu also jumped from his chair and clashed foreheads with the ink haired boy. They both growled at each other before Erza pulled them apart._

_"Really though, Lu-chan," the pink haired boy perked at the mention of Lucy's name. "Why are you so covered up?"_

_"I'm just not hot, Levy! It's not too bad, really!" The pyromaniac watched suspiciously as Lucy tugged down on her uniform and smiled nervously. But, he nodded it off and went back to his confrontation with the stripper._

He was stupid. So stupid. How could he have been so stupid back then? How had he missed it? If he had paid attention to the signs, to her behavior, to the obvious, things could have ended better, things wouldn't have gotten to messy, things would have been okay.

He saw them occasionally, but his naive mind didn't make anything of it. They were on her arms a lot, sometimes on her back. He had never seen them on her face. If she ever did have them on her face, she did a good job on hiding them. And when he would question her about it, she would laugh it off and say she just clumsy and hurt herself.

Of course he believed her pitiful lie. He would just shrug them off and tell her to be more careful, to which she responded with an embarrassed smile and _"yes mom."_

The summer before they entered middle school, when they just turned thirteen, she had shown up to summer classes with a nasty bruise on her face. It was mainly around the eye but some of the bruising had spread to the midst of her cheek. To say he was furious was an understatement. He wanted to murder the person who did this to her.

_"Luce, who the hell gave you that bruise? And you better tell me the truth!"_

_They were in the classroom, just the two of them. Their teacher, Gildarts, Natsu's favorite teacher and also Cana's father, had assigned them to clean up the class before leaving. Natsu had been glaring hre down all day since she first arrived. People gasped and asked her what happened, to which she merely replied she fell and his her eye at the end of the stairs._

_He didn't believe it for a second._

_Lucy jumped at the sound of his voice. She looked over at him with this frightened look, something that Natsu questioned heavily. Why would she look at him like that? It's almost as if she was __**afraid**__ of him._

_"What?"_

_Natsu glared at her and crossed his hands in front of him. "Don't what me. Lucy, that bruise on your eye looks like someone punched you. Trust me, I would know what that looks like!" He was fuming with anger. He had been very agile about it all day and now that it was just the two of them, he had no restraint holding him back, not that he ever really did._

_The blonde haired girl laughed as she rubbed the back of her neck. Natsu was now puzzled. Why was she laughing? If somebody was hurting her, that shouldn't be anything to laugh at!_

_"Of course you would know!" Natsu felt his cheeks burn at Lucy's laugh. She had a really sweet laugh._

_"Th-That's not the point, Luce! Who hurt you!" He quickly responded._

_"I fell duh! I was running down the stairs so fast because I was running late for school that I tripped and fell!"_

_The onyx eyed boy eyed her carefully. He watched her closely. "Don't lie to me, Lucy. Tell me the truth!"_

_Lucy sighed, giving him a small smile. "Natsu, really. I tripped on the second stair. I stumbled my way down and at the edge of the staircase entrance, there's this metal rod that sticks out and I hit my eye on it. Really, it's fine."_

_The pink haired pyromaniac didn't feel comfortable with her answer. He felt like there was more going on. But Lucy didn't lie to him. She always told him what was going on. So if she claimed that was the truth, he would believe her._

_"But thanks for worrying about me."_

_Natsu felt his face turn 100 degrees hotter as she placed a simple kiss on his cheek. His heart was racing and he felt his blood race. The blonde had never done that before. But Natsu thought it was nice and after Lucy left, he couldn't stop the grin from appearing on his face, completely forgetting that gut wrenching feeling in the midst of his stomach._

When they reached secondary level of Fairy Tail Academy, aka, middle school, a lot of things changed.

He was no longer living with his parents. In the beginning of his first year in middle school, his parents were arrested for selling drugs and apparently we're involved in this huge drug bust that was all over the news.

He was about to be sent to the foster care system but the headmaster of Fairy Tail, who had ended up taking a great liking to Natsu, ended up persuading social services to let Natsu stay in his own apartment under the guardianship of Master Makarov. He couldn't believe that the headmaster would do something so great for him. But he was so thankful for it. Not to mention how happy he was that he didn't have to live away from his friends, Fairy Tail, or Lucy.

Speaking of Lucy, he took notice that a lot more guys started talking about his best friend. And not talking as in just talking, but as in saying inappropriate things about and commenting about the _physical_ parts of her body. To say that he was angry would have not been the case. He was _livid_ with how they would talk about her. Especially in front of him.

Lucy was shy about her sudden _development_ and covered herself up a lot, which he didn't oppose too. But even on hot days, just like back in primary school, she would wear long sleeved shirts and high socks. But he figured, she was just trying to hide herself.

If he had actually not been stupid back then, he would have realized the nervous smiles, the way she jumped when guys use to even lay a finger on her, the way she would tug on her clothing as if she was _hiding_ something, the way she used to protect herself by covering her chest or the way she clung close to him when someone got a little too touchy.

He wasn't as stupid as people thought he was though. Yeah, he was stupid enough to not notice what was really going on, but he wasn't stupid enough to realize that his best friend was certainly growing into her figure alright. He noticed the change in her too but he wouldn't say it. Not if he wanted to stay alive. But he wasn't stupid.

And he was also changing too. His voice got a lot deeper and he was growing a lot taller. He wasn't the short kid anymore. And not so many people picked on him anymore, something he was very happy with.

_"Natsu!"_

_The pink haired male was stuffing his useless homework that he never did into his backpack as the __**now**__ busty blonde was running towards him. He gulped as he tried to steer his eyes away from his best friends chest. Ever since he heard the damn Loke talking about how "nice Lucy's rack" was, he hadn't been able to stop staring._

_"What's up, Luce?" He grinned at her, trying to play off the obvious._

_"I was going to go watch Erza compete in the kendo tournament. Want to come with me?"_

_"Oh Lucy! I will gladly go with you!"_

_Both now teenagers turned around to see Loke, an orange haired punk that got under Natsu's nerves a lot, come from behind and hang onto Lucy's shoulder. Natsu growled inwardly, wanting nothing more than to rip off Loke's arm from her shoulder._

_"Oh hi Loke!" She greeted with a smile. Natsu definitely did not like that. Not at all. But, in his annoyance, he failed to notice the way Lucy's shoulders would tense at Loke's touch._

_"Lucy, did you know you're the prettiest girl that had ever walked this earth?"_

_Natsu clenched his fist tightly as he bit down on the inside of his cheek. He heard Lucy giggle and it took everything inside him not to just strangle Loke. Was Lucy seriously falling for this crap? He heard the stupid orange head flirt with tons of girls all day! Lucy had to know by now that he was just playing her! Lucy was always smart and even though they were only fourteen years old, she had to know that Loke was just a shameless flirt!_

_"Hmm… I think that would be the tenth time you told me today." The blonde put a finger to her chin. She then peeled his hand off her shoulder and went to stand next to the pink haired boy. She stood a little too close but Natsu wasn't that bothered by it. If anything, he was smudged by it._

_"But thanks for the compliment! I'm sure it has the same effect it does on all the other girls."_

_Natsu smirked as Loke's face turned red from embarrassment. He knew that the blonde was smart enough to see through Loke's lies. He had complete faith in her._

_"But I only ever mean it to you, Lucy dear." Lucy laughed as Loke still tried to play suave._

_"Don't you have other girls to attend too, bastard?" Natsu glared at Loke and the orange haired teenager glared back. He could feel Lucy attempt to slap his arm and hear her say "Natsu!"_

_"I don't see why Lucy hangs out with a heathen like you, but I do have business to attend too." He turned towards Lucy and could see the way Loke looked at her. And it disgusted him. If Natsu really put attention, he could see the way Lucy's eyes would flicker to fear instantly._

_"See you later, beautiful."_

_With that, the orange haired boy left, leaving the two alone._

_"Take the smug off your face before I do it for you!" Natsu looked down at Lucy in surprise. What had he done now?_

_"No way, Natsu Dragneel. Don't give me that look! You know exactly what you did! And for that, you are totally coming with me to Erza's kendo tournament!" She grabbed him by the ear and dragged him out of the classroom with Natsu in tow._

_"Ow! Ow! Ow! Lucy! That hurts!"_

Loke was just one of the many boys that attempted to flirt with Lucy all the time, though he was the worst of them all. He was constantly at Lucy's side and always trying to get her to become his girlfriend and it frustrated him all the time. But, Lucy, one way or another, had managed to put Loke in his place.

Lucy was really careful around the guys, something he appreciated. The only guys she was completely comfortable with were Gray and himself. Around other guys, she would be nice and polite with, but she always seemed nervous.

Obviously now he knew why.

But back then, he just figured it was something weird the blonde did.

Throughout middle school, he didn't really see a lot of bruises on Lucy, but sometimes, the ones he did see, were horrible and he use to get angry and ask her where she got them from and she would immediately reply with some excuse or lie.

He believed her again. He should never have.

**A/N: Don't have much to say about this. This is part 1. Part 2 should be out either Saturday or Sunday, depending on the amount of feedback I get back. This is the half way point of the story. It's a lot. That's why I had to break it apart. **

**Anyway, let me know what you think. Excuse any OOCness. Still getting use to writing Fairy Tail characters! This is only my third story. But, reviews are appreciated. **

**Until next time!**

**-Dark Waffle**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Part 2. Enjoy!**

**I don't own ****_Fairy_****_Tail _****or any of it's contents.**

"Speech"  
_'Thoughts'_  
_"Flashbacks/Dreams"_

**_Fallen Star_**

**_-O-_**

_"She is like a falling star who has finally found_  
_her place next to another in a lovely constellation,_  
_where they will sparkle in the heavens forever."  
_- Amy Tan

**_-O-_**

Middle school changed them a lot but at the same time, it didn't. They certainly made new friends as well.

When they reached middle school, they met Gajeel Redfox and Juvia Lockser, who transferred to Fairy Tail from this small, trouble making private school called Phantom Lord. Gajeel was a black haired punk with piercings all over his body. He immediately didn't like him because Gajeel was rude, sarcastic, cocky and everything he didn't like in a person. He even made fun of Lucy in front of him, telling her he imagined her in a playboy magazine with a bunny outfit. He did not take that lightly and beat the crap out of him, which odd enough, sparked a new friendship between the two.

Though they fought constantly, Gajeel had grown to become one of his good friends over the years. And even Lucy, who couldn't stand the sight of him at first, ended up growing close to him. It could have also been for the fact that Levy had this "undying crush" on Gajeel, quoted by Lucy, that it caused Lucy to try and play match maker.

He found Juvia Lockser very creepy, though. She immediately "fell in love" with the stripper as soon as she met him and vowed to become his girlfriend. She stalked the underwear freak all the time and was constantly a thorn in their sides. Now, he said thorn in THEIR sides because Gray was constantly with he and Lucy and Erza, which meant that Juvia was always around. And even though Gray pushed her away all the time and told her he didn't feel the same way, she still crawled back for more.

Did he mention she was obsessed with water?

She even deemed Lucy her rival, something that freaked Lucy out, because she thought Lucy was in love with the stripper. Obviously, Lucy wasn't, but because Gray treated the blonde like a little sister, the stalker got the wrong idea all the time.

_"One day she's going to kill me."_

_Natsu was laughing his head off as Lucy glared daggers at him. She was rinsing out her school jacket, that was currently soaked. Juvia had attempted to soak Lucy's uniform during PE one day, but fortunately for Lucy, she had stuffed them in Levy's locker because she couldn't get hers open. The only thing in her locker was the jacket she stuffed in their yesterday._

_How Juvia managed to get inside Lucy's locker, they both had no idea, but Natsu was having a blast and the blonde was not to thrilled with his reaction._

_"It's not funny, baka!" She kicked him in the face and sent him flying. Natsu crashed onto the floor and groaned as his head was throbbing from Lucy's kick. Lucy quickly dropped her leg and fixed her skirt, pulling it down enough to hide her thighs._

_If Natsu hadn't been mulling in pain, he would have noticed the dark, green, bluish bruises on the insides of her thighs and Lucy's fear stricken face._

_"Geeze Luce! That kick really hurt!" He rubbed his head as he walked back towards Lucy._

_"That's what you get for being a jerk!" She nagged at him as he sat beside her._

Not only that, but some guy from Erza's past named Jellal Fernandes ended up showing up at Fairy Tail Academy the summer before they entered high school and Lucy went crazy over it. It had to be some chick thing because he remembered how Lucy would go on for days about how Erza was "totally in love" with Jellal. He didn't buy it for a second because he couldn't believe that scary Erza could actually love something. That earned him a few slaps and kicks from the blonde.

When they were in high school, the idea of love suddenly became very important to Lucy and he wouldn't lie, it annoyed him very much.

_"Idiot! How do you not see it!?"_

_Natsu scrunched his nose as he pouted, leaning back against his chair._

_"Come on, Luce. Erza? Like Jellal? Give me a break!"_

_Lucy pouted and he blushed as he cheeks puffed up and her beautiful brown eyes light up with fire, something he found very attractive since he was somewhat of a pyromaniac. He loved playing with fire and everything about it. And seeing fire in Lucy's eyes made her more attractive to him._

_Whoa, did he just say LUCY was **ATTRACTIVE**? He mentally shook his head and scooted the thought out of his head. Lucy was his best friend. Not that Lucy wasn't attractive. She was **very** attractive. She had grown nicely at the age of sixteen and was considered a beauty, right next to Erza and Mira, at Fairy Tail Academy. Besides, it's not like she would ever think of him that way. They were best friends._

_"Duh! It's just like Gajeel and Levy! He totally has a thing for her! Just how Levy has a thing for him!"_

_He rolled his eyes. "And I guess you're going to say that the creepy stalker girl and the stripper have a thing for each other too?"_

_She shook her head, cringing her nose. "Well, Juvia's obsession with Gray has lessened a lot since middle school and it is kind of… weird, I suppose, if Gray decided to suddenly like her. But, if it's something that works for them, then I don't see why not!"_

_"You're a weirdo, Luce!" He laughed out loud with a bright grin. It was funny how she thought these people could like each other. They were so different, it was ridiculous! Especially Gajeel and the bookworm. Gajeel was cold and ruthless and jerk for sure. Levy was quiet, smart, petite, and kind of cute, like a doll. Those two were totally incompatible with each other._

_"And why is that? Because we're at the age where we start thinking about boys as more than just friends? Because now girls can think about love?"_

_He stopped laughing and looked at her with careful eyes. What did that mean? And where did love come from? What the heck was going on with Lucy?_

_"Whoa, whoa Luce! Love? Come on! We're too young for that stuff! It's about spending time with your friends and making memories with them! Cause' next thing you know, we're going to be all grown up and dealing with grown up problems." He stuck out his tongue at that thought._

_"You're so naive, Nastu." She sighed as she gripped onto her arms. She had this dreamy, far off look in her eyes and rested her chin on her palm. "Love is… love is rare. Love is hard to find. So many people claim they're in love, but what do they really know? It could all be a lie. Real love, TRUE love, now that's unique. Someone… anyone... can just say they **love** you, but… they have to **prove** it."_

_Natsu stared at his best friend with such confusion and was stirred by her words. He was so utterly confused. Love? Didn't he just go on about how they were too young for that? And what was with this sudden talk about true love and what not?_

_"Lucy, you're being weird." He said in a low voice._

_She sighed again. "Come on, Natsu. You're sixteen years old. You've never like a girl before?"_

_His face steamed instantly. Sure, he thought some girls were cute, but he would always forget about them because Lucy was the only girl he ever needed in his life. No one compared to his best friend, his teammate, his partner in crime._

_"I mean, what about Lisanna? Surely you've noticed the way she feels about you?" Had he been paying attention, he would have noticed the way Lucy's eyes fell and her demeanor became very dull._

_"What about her? What does she feel about me?" Lucy face palmed herself as Natsu looked at her quizzically. He was so utterly puzzled. Since when did Lisanna jump into the conversation? He thought they were talking about Lucy and him. And, ahem, love._

_"Natsu, you really **are** dense, aren't you?" She ruffled his hair slightly and smiled at him with one of those amazing smiles that everyone fell in love with. She grabbed onto his favorite white scarf that he always wore and pulled him towards her. He instantly blushed as she was mere inches away from him._

_"I'm going to tell you something, Natsu." She started, as she stared deep into his onyx eyes. He was absolutely captivated by Lucy's honest brown eyes. They were so full of light and hope and determination. He was so intrigued by Lucy's eyes that he was absolutely naive to the fact that behind those brown eyes was a broken, sad, exhausted girl who hid a dark, dark secret._

_"Love is not something you can play with. It is fragile, like glass. And we're certainly not always it's best caretakers. We beat down on it, we throw it around like it holds no importance, we shove it into the darkest parts of our minds and hold it there until we're not afraid to love anymore." She released her grip on his scarf and shifted her gaze down towards the floor. "Sometimes, love is just an excuse or sometimes, love is hurting someone."_

_Natsu didn't really understand much of what the brown eyed girl was telling him, but he could hear the obvious pain in her voice. Her eyes were so melancholic and it seemed like she was now talking from experience. Like, love had hurt her._

_"But when you meet the right person and everything about them just feels **right**," she smiled and grabbed his cheek, caressing it, making Natsu blush a million shades, "you have to hold it tightly and never let it go."_

_"Love is patient. Love is kind. It- it doesn't- It's not envious, or boastful, and it doesn't-" But she stopped, holding her breath._

_Natsu grabbed onto Lucy's hand in concern. "Lucy?"_

_"Love is like magic. It can be beautiful and magnificent," she started, as she looked into his eyes, "but it could also be destructive and cataclysmic." She ended in a whisper. She pulled away from his hand, gazing at the floor, clutching onto her chest._

_"When you find that person, Natsu, love them with every spit of fire you have." She looked up at him and smiled so sincerely at him that it caused him to blush instantly, again._

_She said something about having to head home and gathered her bags, saying goodbye to him. But he was so caught up in his thoughts and Lucy's words, he ignored her goodbye._

And it was at that exact moment that he realized he was in love with Lucy Heartfilia. Everything she had just said to him, everything she just explained, Lucy was the only one in his mind. _She_ was the one who just felt _right. _Everything about her felt just _right_. He was too stupid, too naive to realize it when he was younger. All this time, the reason he never took notice to other girls was because Lucy was the only girl in his eyes. He truly did love her with everything he had. It explained why he would get so mad when guys wouldn't keep their eyes off of her or when they tried to touch her or tried flirting with her or _tried_ anything with her.

It explained why he was always so _depressed_ when she was gone. It explained why his world suddenly seemed so much _brighter_ when she was around. It explained why he always felt so _real_ around her.

And it certainly didn't help that Lucy had gotten more beautiful as the years went by. She grew into a beautiful young woman. She lost all her baby fat, slimmed down into a perfect figure with curves in the right place. Her chest was impressive and her blonde hair had gotten a lot longer.

But that wasn't what he loved about her the most. He loved the way she would smile at him and the ways her eyes scrunched up when she giggled. He loved how fire would dance in her eyes when she was angry at him. He loved the way she couldn't hate anyone or how she would help any person in need. He loved how she would hang on him like he was the one for her. He loved how passionate she was for reading, even though he never was.

The only question was how he was to deal with his new realization. Obviously, he didn't tell Lucy. Well, at least, not yet. He needed advice. Advice from his friends.

_"It's about damn time, Salamander!" Gajeel shouted as he picked at something from his teeth with his metal pin. Natsu groaned as Gajeel teased him._

_Salamander had been his nickname from Gajeel since they met. The dark haired teenager said the onyx eyed boy reminded him of an actual salamander, something he didn't find all that amusing._

_"Seriously, flame brain? I'm with metal face over there." Gray said, to which Gajeel grunted, "You're **just** figuring this out? Everyone could tell you were in love with Lucy since like **ever**."_

_"How was I supposed to know? I ain't good at this romance crap!" The pink haired teenager crossed his arms in defense, his neck feeling incredibly hot._

_"Clearly." Jellal's silent figure said. Natsu glared at him._

_"I mean, Lisanna had only been like **in love** with you, since like ever, but you never realized that either, did you?" The stripper stated, making Natsu confused._

_"Wait, what?" Lisanna loved him? Since when?_

_"Nothing, idiot." Natsu growled as Gray insulted him. They locked foreheads with each other and sputtered insults back and forth until Gajeel told them to knock it off, bringing them back to the initial conversation._

_"It's obvious you would only screw things up with bunny girl." Natsu glared at Gajeel, not appreciating his comment or nickname for Lucy. Ever since the playboy magazine incident, he had deemed that nickname for Lucy, though the blonde didn't seem to mind all that much anymore._

_"Obviously. Natsu wouldn't know the first thing about being in a relationship." Gray knowingly said towards Gajeel. "Lucy would just laugh at you for being so pitiful."_

_"Do you even know if Lucy feels the same for you?" Jellal asked, Natsu turning red._

_No, he did not know if Lucy felt the same. He didn't think she did. She could have any boy she wanted. She was always talking about the princes and what not in her books and how they were so gallant and brave and daring. Why would she want him when he was nothing like those guys?_

_"Well, no." Natsu said, shamelessly._

_"Mira would make a case for you." The stripper added, "She was always persistent with thinking you two would end up together."_

_"That demon bitch is scary as hell." Gajeel muttered, remembering how Mira had threatened him not to hurt or mock Lucy the first time he met her. He had ended up with a few bruises and cuts, more or less._

_"It's hopeless for you, Natsu. You're out of Lucy's league." Natsu felt disappointed as the words left the underwear freak's mouth._

_"The hell would you guys know! You can't even get the girls you shit heads like!" This caused the three boys to sputter in surprise._

_"You're such a sputtering idiot around Levy. Instead of trying to get her to like you, you always push her away!" He pointed towards Gajeel first, to which the piercing faced teenager blushed darkly._

_"And you! You're always so quiet and nervous around Erza, like if that's not obvious enough, I don't know what is!" Next was Jellal, who looked mortified and like a deer in the head lights._

_"Then you, underwear freak! I don't know what the hell is going on with you the the weird stalker girl, but even if it's not with her, it's with that stupid, stuck up girl Jellal always hangs out with, Ultear or whatever the hell her name is." Gray looked away, a blush clearly staining his face._

_They stayed quiet and Natsu felt victorious. His friends were assholes, but so was he, sometimes. And thanks to Lucy and he rambling about Levy and Erza and Juvia and everyone else's complicated 'love' life, he was able to shut up his dick head friends._

_"So, uh, Natsu."_

_The pink haired boy turned towards Jellal, who was still bright red._

_"What are you going to do about Lucy?"_

He didn't know what to do with Lucy. His friends were no help. He should have known that they wouldn't have helped him. And it was obvious he wouldn't go to the brown eyed girl's friends. They would squeal and gush at him for it and they would surely run off to tell Lucy. And that was the last thing he needed.

He felt defeated back then and utterly lost. He had no experience in this type of thing, if that wasn't obvious enough.

It didn't help that ever since he had come to this realization, he would find himself sputtering like a fool around her, or feel nervous around her, or when they were alone, feel awkward.

Not to mention, the amount of guys who pursued Lucy was incredible. He was constantly getting irritated by those who were consistently hitting on her. If it wasn't Jason from the school newspaper or the shameless flirt, Loke, it was this guy named Taurus, who was obsessed with Lucy's body, or the annoying trio, Blue Pegasus, who consisted of these three guys named Ren, Hibiki, and Eve. Their self proclaimed "leader" was obsessed with Erza, something Jellal was not fond of. And even when it wasn't them, there were others who never stopped.

And because of his conflicted feelings and his stirring emotions, he failed to notice all that was happening right under his nose.

_Lucy didn't miss school a lot. Sure, there were days where she would skip out every now and then, but it wasn't a long length of time like it had been when her mother passed away. So when Lucy missed school three days in a row, he grew concerned. Last time that happened, something terrible had happened._

_Natsu bit his lip as he struggled with the math problems on the sheet of paper in front of him. He wasn't all too good in math and usually, his blonde best friend would be the one helping him out, but she wasn't here, **again**._

_And maybe the reason he couldn't quite grasp the concept all that well was because his mind was preoccupied with something else, or rather, someone else._

_Lucy was gone again, for the third day in a row. He buried himself into his white scarf, feeling very worried for his best friend. He had a nasty taste in his mouth about Lucy being gone but he didn't want to think negatively about this. He didn't want to jump to any assumptions. Like the possibility of maybe her dad being extremely sick now or the possibility of Lucy being sick. No. He wanted to keep those thoughts out of his mind._

_That sinking feeling he felt, back when they were thirteen, was back. And as much as he tried to ignore it, he couldn't. It was crawling at the pit of his stomach and it was telling him he needed to see Lucy._

_"Hey Natsu." He looked up coming face to face with Lisanna Strauss. He was deflated, hoping it would be Levy or Erza so he could ask them if they had heard from Lucy._

_"Hey Lisanna." Natsu muttered, not in the mood to talk to anyone._

_"Hey, I was wondering if you, maybe wanted to go to that new ice skating rink in town on Saturday! Mira-nee had two free tickets after her and Laxus cancelled their date and gave them to me. So I figured I'd ask you!"_

_The pink haired boy was surprised, to say the least. He blinked. Once. Twice. She was blushing and was fumbling with her fingers. She bit down on her lip, waiting for his answer._

_Lisanna was… asking him out? Like on a date?_

_"Like- as in a date?" He stuttered. Lisanna's blush grew._

_"Uh, yeah? I mean, yes! Yes, like a date."_

_Gray was right. Lisanna **had** liked him. She was asking him out on a date. Right now. At this very moment. But at this moment, the only person he saw was Lucy._

_Lucy. Where was Lucy? He needed to find Lucy. He had to make sure she was okay. He needed to see her. Now._

_"Natsu?"_

_Oh right. Lisanna was still there. In front of him. Asking him on a date._

_He pursed his lips, feeling guilty about what he was about to do. Lisanna was a nice girl and he didn't want to hurt her, but Lucy was his one and only._

_"Look, Lisanna," He could see her eyes grow sad, as if she knew what was coming, "you're a nice person and I think you're a great friend, but-"_

_"I'm not Lucy."_

_Her words floated in the air. He sucked in a breath. Was it really that obvious? He felt like a terrible person. He didn't like hurting his friends. Though Lucy was his best friend, he held his other friends close to his heart. He was serious when he told the blonde that he valued making memories with his friends and holding them close. They were all special to him._

_"Yeah." He said hoarsely._

_She laughed, almost bitterly. "I mean, I always knew. Ever since we were kids, you always loved her, didn't you?"_

_"Yes." He couldn't suppress the grin on his face from forming._

_She smiled at him. He could see the light tears forming in her eyes. He felt a lump in the back of his throat. He had never made a girl cry before. And he certainly didn't want to make Lisanna cry._

_"Ah! I'm sorry! Lisanna! I didn't mean to make you cry! I mean-"_

_"Natsu, it's fine. I feel a little sad, but I'm glad I at least gathered the courage to ask you. Even though, even though I knew that Lucy was the one you had feelings for."_

_He gave her a hopeless smile. And she returned it, wiping the slight tears away from her eyes. She laughed again, but this time, more on the brighter side. _

_"Here! Take the tickets!" She said, placing the two tickets on the table._

_"What?" He asked, stunned._

_"Oh Natsu, you really are **hopeless**." She giggled. "These are for you and Lucy silly! Take her out on a date and confess to her! I believe in you!"_

He remembered the grin that appeared on his face. Though he rejected Lisanna, they remained good friends. And the tickets made him excited. He could recall how eager he was for school to end so he could go see Lucy and ask her out on a proper date.

And when school did end, he raced out, heading straight to Lucy's. He didn't even bother asking Erza or Levy if they had talked to her. He just made his way hastily out of the gates of Fairy Tail Academy and was on his way.

Or he would have been, had not it been for Wendy Marvell. Wendy Marvell was this sweet, charming little girl they had met in Fairy Tail Academy. She was in the primary level at fairy Tail and Lucy baby sat for her often because her parents were always gone. And he remembered they had formed this little-big sister bond. Eventually, Natsu had become sort of a big brother to her also and he had grown very protective of the young girl.

_"Nastu-ni!"_

_Natsu stopped dead in his tracks as he heard a tiny, familiar voice. He looked over his shoulder to see his almost adopted little sister, Wendy._

_"Oh hey Wendy! Sorry, I can't really talk right now! I have to go see Lucy!" The pyro rambled as he shrugged the bag over his shoulder. Wendy bit down on her lip. Natsu grew weary as anxiety crawled into his stomach._

_"Actually, Natsu-ni, that was what I wanted to come and talk to you about."_

_Natsu gave his full attention to Wendy now, kneeling down to her level. A strong frown replaced his at ease demeanor. He grabbed onto the blue haired girl's shoulders._

_"Wendy, what's happened? Is something wrong with Lucy?"_

_His fears were creeping up again. He could feel his mind race with concern. Back were these haunting thoughts that use to creep into the depths of his mind. Wendy seemed tense. He didn't like tense._

_"I-I don't know if anything is actually wrong with her, but she was supposed to pick me up from school yesterday and she never showed up." Natsu immediately tensed. "Also, Natsu-ni, Lucy-nee had some weird bruises on her arms and stomach."_

_"What?" His voice was sharp and Wendy was slightly frightened by the tone in her almost adopted older brother._

_"She made me promise not to tell anyone, but a couple days ago when she came over, me and Lucy took a bath together and I saw these really horrible looking bruises around her ribs and arms. She said she went horseback riding and fell off but it-she- it just seemed weird. But, Lucy-nee never lies and I don't know. I'm just worried about her."_

_Natsu took his hands off Wendy's shoulders and clenched his fist. Nodding off the fact that Wendy just talked about bathing with Lucy and saw her naked, he dug his fingernails into the palms of his fist. He bit down on his lip, until he could feel the metallic tasting substance._

_Wendy didn't even have a chance to continuing her story because Natsu took off immediately towards Lucy's house._

_Lucy was hurt. She was hurt and she didn't tell him. She didn't tell anyone. Except for Wendy, but that was because she had too. He felt hurt she didn't tell him. Why didn't she tell him? But, she had always been like this before. Ever since her mother died, she had strange bruises popping up. And she would always say there from an accident of some sort._

_At first he thought she just super clumsy. But now that he was older, he was piecing things together._

_Was somebody hurting Lucy?_

_She did have strange bruises in weird places. And sometimes, he would notice at how she would wince from moving in a certain way or how she would sometimes put a little too much make up on, which was weird because she **never** put makeup on._

_Was her father hurting her?_

_The thought had never crossed his mind before, but now it did. Lucy had never said anything. After her mother died, she never mentioned her family again, now that he thought about it. And the pieces fit together._

_He growled as the his insides begun to stir with anger he didn't know he had. If Lucy's father was indeed hurting her, he needed to get to her **right now**._

_He would never forget that day. It was always engraved in the back of his mind, like a scar. It was a painful reminder of his own naive ways._

_He felt like he was eight years old again, racing to Lucy's house to see if she was okay. But this time, he couldn't climb the vineyards to her window. They were gone now. There wasn't a sense of innocence in this. Something was wrong. He could feel it._

_He walked to the front door, hesitant to ring the doorbell. There were a million things that could go wrong right now. He felt nervous. But, he was afraid that he would do something reckless, which he did often. But, he needed to make sure that Lucy was alright._

_He gulped and pressed the doorbell. The wait felt like an eternity, but when he heard footsteps from the other side, his muscles tensed. He heard the door unlock from the other side and when the door opened, he couldn't stop himself going wide eyed._

_In front of him stood Lucy's father, Jude Heartfilia, if that was what he remembered his name to be. Natsu couldn't stop himself from staring. He hadn't seen the man in **years**. The last time he saw him, he was a refined, polished man. His hair was slicked back nicely, he wore a traditional, polished looking suit, and he bore great posture._

_But now, he looked like a completely different man. His dark, mustard golden hair was grown out and reached the midst of his neck. His beard was incredibly long and it looked like it hadn't been cut in years. He looked so much older now. His eyes were dark and red. He looked like a predator going in for his prey. Not only that, he reeked of alcohol._

_Natsu didn't like the look of things._

_"Uh, hi, erm, Lucy's dad, I mean, uh hello Mr. Heartfilia. I'm Natsu. Natsu Dragneel." He forced out, resisting himself from just barging in._

_"I remember you." Natsu almost gagged at how much his breath stank of alcohol. "You're that pink haired brat who clung onto **my** Lucy like a fuckin' puppy."_

_Natsu frowned. It wasn't the insult that made him frown though. It was the way he said "my Lucy," like he owned her. Like she was property that belonged to him._

_"Yeah. So I guess we can cut the introductions." He spat. His anger was getting to the best of him now, to which he mentally cursed. "Lucy hasn't shown up to school so I came to see if she was okay."_

_The man in front of him glared down at Natsu._

_"What? Are you her boyfriend now?"_

_Yes._

_"No. But **I'm** her best friend and I want to make sure **Luce** is okay." He emphasized his nickname for Lucy, which he probably shouldn't have done because now the older man looked like he was about to murder Natsu._

_"Lucy's just fine. **I'm** her father. I **always** take care of her. Now scram it, kid." Jude Heartfilia was about to slam the door shut in his face, but before he could get the chance, Natsu put his hand on the door, shifting all his weight on it._

_He didn't like the way he emphasized it. He especially didn't like the glint in his eye when he said "always." There was something going on. He could feel it. He could smell it. He wasn't blind anymore. He could see the devious and disgusting glint in his eyes and he wasn't going to have him touch Lucy._

_"What the hell do you think you're going?" The older Heartfilia called out to him._

_"Where. Is. Lucy." Natsu, in rage, demanded._

_Jude Heartfilia looked down at the pink haired boy with fury. Natsu knew his eyes were seeping with animosity and he wanted nothing more than to knock the man down and grab Lucy and leave. But, he couldn't and he had to be careful with how he handled this situation._

_"Get the hell out of here, you Fairy brat. Lucy is none of your damn concern." He seethed. Onyx eyes flared with fury. He didn't like people telling him what to do. Especially ones that told him that Lucy was not his concern. To hell with that._

_"Lucy is my **only** concern. And if you hurt her, then I will fuckin kill you."_

_Natsu could see the madness in his eyes. He could see the glint of amusement and the flicker of ferocity. He didn't like it. It was off. This man was mad. He could see it. It was like his parents, but dipped in madness. His parents never hurt him._

_But this man was hurting Lucy._

_"Papa?" Natsu's heart soared at the sound of Lucy's voice. He tried to see over the man's broad shoulders, but the older Heartfilia blocked his view._

_"Ah, Lucy, my daughter." Nasu cringed at the fake, disgusting sweetness in his voice._

_"Papa? Who's at the door?" She sounded fine. She didn't sound hurt. But then again, Lucy was good at hiding it. She had been hiding it all these years._

_"Oh no one, sweetheart. Just a delivery boy."_

_"Lucy! It's me!" He called out quickly. He missed the way Jude Heartfilia's dark eyes immediately glared at him._

_"Natsu?" He heard her, barely above a whisper._

_"Luce!" He peered over the man's shoulder and caught a glimpse of her. She was clad, in a large hoodie, hiding her body. She was wearing what seemed like yoga pants. And her face was clear, no bruises. He sighed in relief._

_"Natsu, you should leave." He gave her an incredulous look. Didn't she want to see him? What was with her all of a sudden? She bit down on her lip._

_"I-I just wanted to make sure you were okay, Luce. Everyone at school is a worried about you!" He felt the strong grip of the drunken man in front of him on his arm. Natsu winced slightly as the grip tightened._

_"I'm just fine, Natsu. I'm just helping Papa out with things. Don't worry, everything's okay." She smiled at him and he felt uneasy. It was like she was assuring him that everything was okay, or lying that everything was okay. Which one was it?_

_"You need to leave, now." Natsu glared at Jude. The grip was strong on his arm._

_"I'll see you at school, later okay?" No. He wanted her to come with him now._

_"But Lucy." He whined, hesitating to leave._

_"Everything's fine, Natsu. Trust me. Everything is okay." He looked deeply into her eyes, looking for the same hope, determination, light he had always seen in those strong brown eyes of hers. He could see the confidence in her brown eyes. The assurance. She was fine, she was telling him. She was okay and he didn't need to worry. She was okay. She would see him later._

_"Alright." Jude finally let go of his arm and Natsu shrugged it away from him, feeling the ache from the man's grip. "See you later, Luce."_

_Before he left, the older man grabbed Natsu by his shirt and scarf and pulled him up, meeting him eye to eye. But Natsu wasn't scared. He was angry and confused._

_"Don't come by here again. Or I will make sure you regret it."_

_With that, Jude Heartfilia threw Natsu and shut the door in his face. The young teenager landed with a hard 'thump,' but that was the least of his worries._

He had sulked all the way home, grunting and complaining to himself about how Lucy didn't even talk to him. And even though he suspected that her father was hurting her, she showed no signs. But he remembered throughout all those years together, she was very good at hiding the bruises. And it wasn't like Lucy sounded hurt back then. No, she sounded fine. Even if her father had been drinking, maybe he wasn't hurting her, is what he thought back then.

Oh how wrong he was.

_Natsu sighed with a sad frown plastered on his face as he opened the door to his lonely apartment. He threw his backpack on the couch and grabbed his face, sighing roughly at how impossible this situation seemed._

_He wasn't satisfied with Lucy and her father had certainly been very condescending and suspicious. Though the blonde didn't seem like she was lying, she could have very well been. And her father was so possessive of her. He saw the way Jude looked at her. It was like the boys at school looked at her. And that was horrendous and perverted._

_But could Lucy's dad be hurting her? It would make sense. But why wouldn't Lucy have said anything? At least to him? Then again, it made sense why she didn't. He probably would have killed him by now if her father was truly hurting her. So many thoughts were running through his mind and he felt so overwhelmed and frustrated._

_"Ugh! This doesn't make sense!"_

_"Meow." Natsu looked down to see his blue, yes, BLUE, cat, happy. The pink haired pyro bended down and smiled sadly at the cat. He rubbed his ears and scratched the back of his neck. The cat purred and scratched itself against Natsu's leg._

He remembered when he first got happy. He and his blonde haired companion had bought Happy when he first moved into the apartment Headmaster Makarov had gotten him. Lucy felt like Natsu would be all alone and felt like he should have a pet to keep him company. He didn't want a dog because it was too much responsibility. Lucy didn't let him get a bird because she knew he would either let it fly away or he'd probably eat it. A mouse/hamster/rodent was a no go because Lucy hated rodents and she told him she wouldn't go over with that type of animal in his house.

She forbade any types of reptiles, though he wanted a lizard so bad because he believed that lizards were offsprings of dragons, which ultimately earned him a few kicks and punches from Lucy. He remembered that he was so annoyed with Lucy because she wasn't letting him get the animal _he_ wanted.

And then, they heard a small purr and that bought Lucy. It was a small, blue coated kitten. Both he and his brown eyed best friend were completely shocked by the abnormality of this kitten and even questioned each other if that color was possible. But as the store owner proceeded to explain to them that the blue cat had been dyed with this type of permanent blue coloring and no one wanted him because he was different, he knew in his heart, Happy was the cat he wanted.

Weird to say, but Natsu felt connected because he knew the feeling of not being wanted and being the weird outcast. He didn't want this little guy to be out there on his own with no one to care for him. He remembered telling Happy,_ "You and me bud, we're going to be best pals, got it? I'm going to take care of you and make sure you never feel alone again."_

Lucy had called him a sap and wiped a few tears away from her eyes. He gave her his cheesiest grin and named him Happy because the blue cat made him happy.

And from then on out, Happy and Lucy we're his family.

_"Hey pal. Yeah, I'm okay." He got up and went over to the kitchen to make himself some instant noodles. Lucy always gave the pyro hell for eating so much sodium, but he didn't care sometimes._

_"Meow." The cat followed him and Natsu knew he was hungry. He smiled, taking the cat food out of the cupboard, then putting cat food in his bowl. "Meowwwww."_

_"Well at least someone is enjoying their meal! You know what I will be having, again?" Happy looked up from his bowl and gave Natsu this almost guessing look. "Yeah! Noodles! I need some real food!"_

_Once the noodles were ready, he poured them in a bowl and took them over to his small living room, to which he flipped on the T.V. and rested his feet on his table. Happy jumped on the couch next to him, cuddling in Natsu's side. The pyromaniac appreciated the comfort. He needed some type of comfort for his current dilemma._

_"You know, Happy," he started as he scratched the cat's head, "I think something's going on with Lucy." At the mention of Lucy's name, the cat purred and perked it's head. Natsu smiled as he knew Happy was accustomed to hearing the blonde's name around here._

_"She was acting all weird when I went to her house, but at the same time, she was being Lucy. Not to mention her dad was being a total jack ass. He reeked of alcohol, just like how my dad always did." He frowned and bit down on his lip. He hadn't thought about his dad, or his parents, in a while. He figured forgetting about them would be easier than dealing with the pain of thinking about them._

_"I'm scared, bud. I'm scared- I'm scared that she's being hurt by someone, her dad you know?" The blue cat looked up at him, confused. "But I don't know for sure and that's what scares me the most. I wouldn't know and she could get seriously hurt and I wouldn't be there to protect her."_

_"And I don't what I would do if anything happened to her, Happy. I love her. And I want to protect her, but how can I if she won't tell me anything, you know?"_

_The cat purred for a few seconds then snuggled against him, almost as if he was comforting the sad pink haired boy._

_"Thanks bud." Natsu smiled sadly as he stroked the back of his cat's neck. Natsu had fallen asleep shortly after. The T.V. was drowned out by his snoring and Happy slept peacefully next to him._

_It wasn't until there was a rough pounding on his door that the pink haired boy immediately jumped out of his light slumber. Happy jumped also, scouring away from Natsu. His heart was racing as the pounding on his door continued. He glared at the door and grumbled, picking up his dirty dishes. The relentless pounding continued and Natsu was growing irritated._

_"Yeah! Yeah! I'm coming!" He yelled. "Probably the damn stripper or stupid metal face." He muttered to himself grumpily as Happy trailed behind him_

_The knocking on his door didn't stop. "Hold on, dammit! I'm coming!"_

_When he opened the door, his heart dropped to the pit of his stomach. His eyes were wide utter surprise and he couldn't move._

_There, in front of him, was Lucy._

And she was covered in bruises, and blood, and cuts, and was soaked to the bone.

_His breath was caught in his throat as he stared at her with horrified eyes. She was trembling so vividly and had her hands wrapped around herself. The hoodie he saw on her earlier was now gone and instead she had on a ragged shirt that clung to her bodice tightly. She was still wearing the yoga pants but they were also in disarray._

_"Na-Natsu." She croaked, her voice sounding strained._

_At the sound of Lucy's distressed call, Natsu's mind immediately switched and turned a complete 180._

_"Lucy!" He reached out to her and lightly grabbed onto her shoulders. As soon as he touched her, she collapsed into his arms. Luckily for Lucy, Natsu had fast reflexes. He caught her easily and pulled her into a hug._

_"What happened! Luce! Who did this to you!?" His confusion and immediate disarray from earlier vanished and fury and outrage replaced his emotions. He could feel his chest bubbling with anger as he clutched the blonde closer to his body. He picked her up bridal style and took her to his couch immediately. He felt her grab his shirt tightly and her dig into his chest._

_Natsu rushed her to the couch and placed her down gently. He then ran to his bathroom and shakily searched for the first aid kit he kept. He was breathing heavily and felt his heart race as he fumbled through his boxes under the sink._

_Once he found the box, he ran towards his room and grabbed a blanket, t-shirt, and some sweats of his, then quickly made his way back to Lucy. She was still trembling and hugging herself protectively._

_"Lucy..." He said gently as he grabbed her shoulder. She immediately retreated from him, looking at him with pure terror. Natsu went wide eyed as he felt his heart break._

_"I-Natsu-" She began to tear up and the pink haired boy began to panic._

_"Luce, I'm right here. I won't-" He reached for her again, and again, she pulled away from him._

_"Lucy, who did this to you?" The pink haired teenager asked, trying to keep his temper in control._

_She was still trembling, violently. Natsu grabbed the blanket he had brought from his room and carefully wrapped it around her shoulders._

_"Lucy, look at me." He reached for her hand and clutched it tightly. The blonde looked up at him and Natsu felt murderous._

_There was a revolting, greenish, bluish bruise around her eye; worse than the one she came to school with a few years ago. Her nose looked broken and there was dried and fresh blood around the corners of her mouth and nose. Her lips were swollen and purple while the cut on her lip was still oozing blood._

_The pink haired boy reached for the blanket and removed it from her shoulders. Because the shirt was ragged and old, there were several holes in the t-shirt. Because of those holes, he could see the bruises on her arms and shoulders. And he was confident there were more around her stomach and rib cage area._

_He tightened his fist and gritted his teeth. He glared at the bruises on her body._

_"He did this to you, didn't he? He hurt you, didn't he?" He said with venom in his voice._

_"It's not what you think, Natsu." She silently mumbled._

_"What the hell is that supposed to mean!" He stood up and looked at her with fire in his eyes. "It's not what I think? Are you fuckin' crazy Lucy!?"_

_"He-He was mad! Natsu, he was mad!" She defended as she tried to stand up._

_The pink haired boy felt something click and finally, all his anger was released._

_"He was mad? Are you fuckin' kidding me! **LUCY**! **LOOK AT WHAT HE DID TO YOU! JUST BECAUSE HE WAS MAD**!" He walked away from her, not wanting to yell at her._

_"He never got this bad before." She said to herself. "He was just so mad that you came to the house and he thought I said something to you and oh my god." Natsu turned around to see her get up and look at him with horror in her eyes. "Natsu, if he finds out I'm here, he'll hurt you. I have to leave. I shouldn't have come here."_

_"And where are you going to go? Back to that house? **HELL** **NO**." He grabbed her arm, but not tight enough to hurt her and crushed her to his chest._

_"Natsu! You don't understand! He'll hurt you. He will hurt you, maybe kill you. I have to leave. I can't let him hurt you!" She struggled to pull away against his bear crushing hug, but Natsu didn't move._

_"NO! I won't let you go back to him! I don't care if he hurts me! I won't let him hurt you! Not anymore! I don't care what it takes! I'm **not** going to let him touch you! You hear me!" He could feel the blonde giving in to him. She was crying now._

_"Natsu… please." She sobbed quietly. "I have to go back." The blonde whispered._

_He pulled her away from his chest and glared down at her. "I'm **NOT** letting you go back. You think I'm going to sit here and let him hurt you over and over? FUCK THAT."_

_"I won't let him touch you, Lucy. I promise. He could try and find you all he wants, but I won't let him **anywhere** near you." He brought her back into the hug and stroked her hair as she cried into his shirt._

_They stood there for some time, but Natsu knew she must have been hurting. He pulled away from her and sat her down next to him. He opened the first aid box and took out all the gauze pads, alcohol wipes, and bandages he could find. He first went for her face and started dabbing away all the cuts and blood away._

_There was a present scowl etched on his face as he cleaned her up. The more he cared for her, the more upset he became. His body was already a ticking time bomb. He blew up on her earlier, but that was nothing compared to all the hate and resentment and enmity that was coursing throughout every inch of his body._

_"I remember doing this for you when you would always get in fights with Gray when we were younger." She commented, a bitter laugh escaping her lips._

_"This isn't the same thing. And there's **nothing** funny about this." He seethed through his already gritted teeth._

_"Natsu..." She sighed, then winced as Natsu rubbed away at a cut on her cheek._

_"No, Lucy. No." He said coldly. "How long has this been going on?"_

_"What?" She asked him, sounding dumbfounded._

_"How long has he been hurting you?" He asked again with the same force._

_Her head dropped and her eyes were full of sadness and such melancholy. She looked so broken, so wounded, so **tired**._

_"Since my Mama died." She said in a whisper. Natsu went wide eyed and every single memory he had of Lucy showing up to school with a bruise appeared in his mind. There were so many. So many bruises. So many injuries._

_And it had been going on for so damn long._

_"He's been hurting you for 8 years and you just decided to fuckin say something?!" He shouted in his outburst as he stood up. Lucy winced at the tone in his voice and couldn't bear to look him in the eyes._

_"I couldn't say anything Natsu! I was only eight years old! I had just lost my Mama! What was I supposed to do!?" The blonde argued back, shutting up the pyro. "I didn't want to lose the only family I had left! No matter how terrible he was!"_

_He understood. Even though he hated the fact she hid this secret from him for so long, he understood. Some family was better than no family._

_"When Mama died, everything changed! My Papa no longer smiled anymore. He was always so indulged in his work and hardly put any attention to me anymore. It was like he forgot he had a daughter." The pain in Lucy's eyes hurt more than anything. "Mrs. Suppetto cared for me for a few months, but for some reason, Papa fired her and it was only us two." She started. Natsu listened tentatively as she finally confessed to him._

_"I thought that finally, finally my Papa would pay attention to me and we could grieve together over my Mama's death, but instead, he just looked at me in disgust." She wrapped her arms around herself. Natsu yearned to hug her. "He didn't start hitting me until a year after Mama died. I noticed that he started drinking a lot and it made him angry all the time. If something in the house wasn't perfect, he would yell at me. If I ever did anything wrong, he would yell at me."_

_"It wasn't until I came home late from school once, when I was with you, that he hit me." Natsu's eyes almost bulged out of his sockets as the words left her mouth. "He called me a little tramp and said I shouldn't be staying out with boys so late. And then the hitting came more often and I became scared." The pink haired boy looked at her in disbelief as she wiped tears away from her eyes._

_"But I wasn't scared of him. Not anymore at least. No. I was scared he would hurt **you**. That's why I stopped inviting you over. That's why I **never** told you. I knew, I knew you would do something to try and protect me like you always have. And I didn't want him to hurt you like he hurt me."_

_Natsu was in absolute shock. Lucy was protecting him? All these years, she never said anything because she was **protecting** him?_

_"Why didn't you just **tell** me, Lucy? Why? I could have handled him! I could have-"_

_"NO! You couldn't have! And I couldn't! I knew if I told you, you would go tell Erza and Gray and they would tell Mira and Cana and they would involve everyone! I just couldn't have any of you find out! I didn't want him hurting you guys. You guys are my friends, my **family**. If he hurt you, or any of them, I would have never forgave myself." She was now sobbing and Natsu felt as if a hundred needles were stabbing his heart._

_Lucy had kept this secret to **protect all of them.** She had taken years of brutal beatings and torment for their sakes, to protect them. But who was there to protect her? Who was there to defend her? Who was there to save her?_

_No one. _

_The girl he loved had absolutely no one to save her from this nightmare._

_He felt utterly useless. He was her best friend. He should have seen it. The signs were there. Her behavior made it more than obvious. How could he have not seen it? How could he have not noticed the undeniable?! He was angry. Angry at her asshole father who hurting her for so long, angry at Lucy for keeping it to herself, but mostly, angry at **himself** for being so stupid and naive._

_"All this time, you showed the signs and I never once noticed it. It all made sense. All the bruises, all the injuries. All the excuses!" He reprimanded himself. "I actually believed you! I believed you **even** when I knew something was wrong! I'm so damn stupid!"_

_"No, Natsu. You weren't ever supposed to know." She grabbed his cheek and stroked it softly. "You were never supposed to find out. I promised myself that I would never tell you or **anyone**."_

_"NO!" He stood up abruptly, surprising Lucy._

_"I should have been there! I should have protected you! I could have done **something**!" He was now visibly shaking; from frustration, from pain, from all the conflicted feelings coursing within him at that moment._

_"It's not your fault! You couldn't have done anything even if you wanted too! So stop blaming yourself, baka!" She was glaring at him. He was feeling pitiful. But he didn't have the right to feel that way. Lucy, who was just brutally assaulted, was being far stronger than him._

_"I wasn't even going to come here, but when he-" She stopped midway, her eyes went wide._

_"Lucy?" Natsu grabbed her shoulders and shook her slightly. "What did he do?" His voice was in panic._

_"He just- I just couldn't stay there anymore and you were the only person I could trust to see. Like this."_

_"Enough with the lies, Lucy! What else did he do to you?" He asked her with force. She looked at him with such pain and agony that felt his chest constrict tightly._

_"Natsu- I… You- You don't want to know." The blonde looked away, almost shamefully._

_"Tell me now, Lucy. What else did he do to you?"_

_"He- No. Natsu, trust me. You don't wan-"_

_"Tell me now!" He interrupted her. Lucy went wide eyed at the pink haired boy. His eyes were full of spite and repugnance. "I don't care what you think I should or should not know!"_

_They were engulfed in silence as Lucy looked down at her lap, hands in front of her. His hands were at each side of her knees as he gripped the couch so tightly, his fingers were turning a ghost white. He watched her attentively with hard, onyx eyes._

_"He..." She whispered, her voice sounding restrained. "He..." She was hesitating._

_"He raped me."_

_Everything moved so fast. Nothing was in his mind but those three words. All the hostility, the animosity, the **absolute** disgust took him over and the pink haired boy was blinded by obsolete rage. He stood up and knocked the table over as his mind shut down on him and let his wrath take over._

_"**THAT BASTARD**!" He scorned, lividly as he fiercely his way towards his front door._

_"NATSU DON'T!" The blonde stood up and tried to run towards the door, but Natsu was too fast._

_"I'M GOING TO KILL HIM." He couldn't focus on anything other than his rage at that point. Everything else was irrelevant to him. His destrcutive nature began to take him over and he was out for blood._

_"Natsu! Stop! Just stop!" He didn't hear the blonde girl as he made his way out the door. All he could think about was the different ways he could cause infinite pain to the older Heartfilia._

_"Natsu please! Natsu stop! It's okay!"_

_"IT'S NOT OKAY!" He roared back at her. The veins in his forehead were popping out and his eyes were dark and dangerous. Lucy was looking at him with fear. "HE FUCKIN' **RAPED** YOU! HE **RAPED **YOU!? HOW IS THAT OKAY!? TELL ME, LUCY! HOW THE **HELL **IS THAT OKAY!?"_

_"This isn't the first time! He's done it before!" She jumped in front of him, pushing him back in attempt to stop him. He felt his entire body freeze._

_"What?" With those words, his rage suddenly vanished. __That wasn't the first time? He had sexually assaulted her more than once?_

_She was crying, the tears endlessly streaming down her face. But she wasn't sobbing uncontrollably like earlier. She was looking at him with these hard, painful brown eyes he had never seen before._

_"Yes, Natsu. This wasn't the first time. He had done it before." The blonde started, "He tells me that I remind him of my Mama and it keeps her close to him when he-" She inhaled deeply, closing her eyes, trying to suppress her very vivid memories. "-does what he does to me. He tells me he does it because he loves me… and I have no choice but to oblige because he's too strong. He's too strong. I can't get him off me. I can- I can't overpower him."_

_Lucy's hands clutched his t-shirt tightly as the sobs return. He could only watch her as his mind drew a blank. He didn't know what to think. All this time, this bastard had been sexually molesting her. It was sick. It was revolting._

_His Lucy had dealt with that disgusting bastard for all these years. The girl he was in love with had been hurting for so long. He wanted to kill Jude Heartfilia. He wanted to make him suffer the way he made Lucy suffer. He wanted to give inflict pain; terrible, cruel pain that would make him beg for mercy. And when he did, Natsu wouldn't let him have the mercy. He didn't deserve it. He deserved to rot in hell for the agony and torment he put his best friend through._

That had to be the worst day of his life. He was still furious and wanted nothing more than to run rampant and hurt Jude Heartfilia, but of course he couldn't. He had to take care of Lucy. She ended up crying out in pain over the remaining bruises that started forming. She removed her shirt and he remembered seeing horrendous bruises around her ribs and back. Her legs were much more.

His need to murder Jude Heartfilia had came back, but Lucy was able to calm him down and keep him near her. He gave her ice packs and bags of ice so she could ice all her bruises. He also let her take a warm bath so her muscles could relax.

Under normal circumstance, he would have been gushing over the fact that Lucy was naked in his shower, but because of the situation they were in, that thought was unimportant and inappropriate. The only thing he could think about was Lucy's safety and what she was going to do next. He refused to let her go back. He wasn't going to have her go back anywhere near the sick bastard.

She ended up falling asleep on his bed, which he totally didn't mind. He wanted her to feel safe, secure. He wanted her to know that he would do _anything_ to protect her. He watched over her, hovering next to the door all night. He remembered he couldn't sleep at all and he was stil out for blood and he wanted more than anything to go to the Heartfilia household and destroy the man that was Jude Heartfilia.

_He watched as she laid quietly on his bed, breathing silently. She had changed into the clothes he had brought out to her and was currently lying still, not yet asleep. He was hanging by the door frame, arms crossed. He was in deep thought as he watched her like a hawk._

_He didn't know what to do, what to say. He felt overwhelmed with all Lucy told him. He was scared to touch her because now she just seemed so fragile. He didn't want her to break, though she had every right too. Her life had been a living nightmare since her mother had died. And he had done nothing to make it better._

_There were millions of questions running through his mind. Should he call the cops? Rat out her dad? Of course he wanted that, but he wanted to punch him more than anything. Should he take her to the hospital? She was hurt, badly. Those types of injuries were extensive to the body. He could call Erza or Levy, maybe? They might know what to do!_

_"Luce? Should I could call Erza or Levy?" He suggested._

_"NO!" He went wide eyed at her response as she rose from his bed quickly. He didn't miss the way she clutched her side and winced in pain either. "I mean, no. No. Natsu, you- you can't call **anyone**."_

_"Lucy, I-" He was at loss for words. She really wanted to keep it a secret. Why? Why did she want to keep this a secret? Why didn't she just get the help she deserved?_

_"Natsu, you can't tell **anyone**. You hear me?"_

_"But Lucy!" He began to argue, his face turning into a frown._

_"No! You can't! Because they will all get involved!" She looked at him in pain, in worry. She was counting on him to keep her dark secret. "I can't have that!"_

_"I'm not letting you go back there, Luce. Not anymore." He walked towards her, sitting down next to her in the bed._

_The blonde bit down on her lip, gazing into his dark, onyx eyes. Finally, finally, after all these years, he saw what was behind those honest brown eyes he fell in love with all those years ago. She was clouded with so much pain, so much suffering, so much misery. She was broken, damaged to the extent that she might not be able to recover from this._

_And that hurt him so much._

_But if he had to put her back together, he would._

_"I have too. He will find me. He will." Her voice was low, scared._

_"Then I'll protect you! I'll make sure he doesn't **ever** touch you, **again**." He grabbed a hold of her hand and squeezed it tightly. But instead of the permanent scowl he had etched on his face earlier, he was now grinning._

_She smiled back at him and squeezed his hand. "Thank you, Natsu."_

_"You can just stay here until we figure out what to do, okay? So don't worry about anything like that! But, we are going to have to get you some clothes. And some bathroom stuff. And maybe some more food because I'm sure you don't live on noodles." He was scratching at his head, eyes scrunched together, crossing his legs as he went deep in thought about the things he was going to need for Lucy._

_Lucy giggled, bringing music to his ears. "Don't worry about all that. Let's just get through the day first, okay?"_

_They smiled at each other and for a moment, the world was forgotten and it was just Natsu and Lucy. The two stayed up a little longer, trying to get Lucy's mind off the traumatic events of the day. Though, they both knew that there was no way something like this could ever be forgotten, no matter how hard they both tried to suppress the memories._

_When Lucy finally fell asleep, Natsu smiled at her with a sad smile, that eventually turned into a frown. He clenched his fist and cursed at the world in his head._

_Why her? Why Lucy?_

_Out of all people, why did it have to be **her**?_

_She was good. She was a kind, generous, loving person. She loved people and they loved her back. She went out of her way to protect those around her and gave without expecting anything in return. She didn't deserve this brutality, this tormenting._

_Hadn't it been enough? With her mother's death? Did God not see how much hurt she was going through?_

_They were just kids. They were just kids who grew up way too fast. And Lucy. Lucy took the worst of it. She took the fall for others when in reality, it should have been him. It should have been with this ardorous life._

_He watched as Lucy slept, peacefully. She didn't look frightened. There was a sense of tranquility and she looked so innocent, so pure. Not that she wasn't. He didn't think that because of what her father had done to her made her less than what people might have thought. He didn't think her a whore or damaged or any less of a person. _

_She was still **his** Lucy and he loved her as much as he did the day before. Or the day before that. And he would never stop loving her._

_Ignoring the loud thumping of his heart, he bent over and kissed the top of her forehead slightly. When he pulled away, his cheeks were burning red and he felt silly for doing something like that. He wasn't even her boyfriend._

_That was what guys did to girls they loved, wasn't it though? He didn't know anything about being in a relationship or anything like that, but now more than ever, he wanted to learn so he could show Lucy that he was going to be there for her in more than one way._

_"Goodnight, Luce." He whispered softly._

_"I love you."_

**A/N: So umm, this is actually a lot longer than I thought this would be. It looks like there is going to be a chapter 3. I edited and did all the revisions and it ended up being around 70 pages. I'm not going to be putting 40 pages worth of a chapter here for you to read. So again, I decided to cut it up. So next chapter will be the finale to this epic tale (alright, not epic but you know what I mean). **

**Let me know what you think! Did I do a goob job? Did I bring justice to the characters? Keep them in character? Reviews are very much appreciated and they encourage me to get the chapters out quicker! So let's try to get to at least ten, yeah guys? Ten reviews will get you the next chapter in two, three days :D **

**By the way, did you all read this week's chapter of Fairy Tail? Holy crap guys! Shiza is going down! (I'm also totally ignoring that NaLi moment, though there was been a lot of animosity within the NaLu shippers, which is really irritating me because like seriously guys, NaLi hasn't had a moment since the Edolas Arc. How long ago was that? Yeah, exactly. Give em a break.)**

**ANYWAY,  
****Until next time!**

**-Dark Waffle**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: It seems that with this story, I have really hit close to home. So before we get on to the chapter, I just want to dedicate this to skelekc, skelekc's friend who was a rape victim who was wronged and didn't get the justice she deserved, and any other rape victim who was tormented, tortured, or put in absolute agony. This for all of you. **

**Without further adue, I present to you Part 3. Enjoy.**

**I don't own ****_Fairy_****_Tail _****or any of it's contents.**

"Speech"  
_'Thoughts'_  
_"Flashbacks/Dreams"_

**_Fallen Star_**

**_-O-_**

_"She is like a falling star who has finally found_  
_her place next to another in a lovely constellation,_  
_where they will sparkle in the heavens forever."  
_- Amy Tan

**_-O-_**

That was the first time he had said those three words, out loud at least. After that night, things started rapidly moving. He obviously didn't go to school the next morning. He went to sleep too late and didn't get up till late the next morning. He almost thought that what happened the previous night was just a nightmare. But when Lucy woke him up wearing his t-shirt and sweats, he knew that what had happened was as real as her in front of him.

He remembered how much _worse_ her bruises had looked now that they had time to _actually_ bruise. The anger in him boiled once more, but she was able to keep him calm; for now at least. They both avoided the topic of the day before, though he definitely wanted to talk to her about it. He wanted to know what she was going to do, what her next move would be.

He remembered he tried bringing it up, but she shot him down and told him to leave it. They argued again, with him telling her that she needed to go to the police, where she adamantly refused.

_"What the hell do you mean you're not going to the police!" The pink haired boy raised his voice at her, irritated by her stupid decisions._

_"I'm not going to the police! Once I turn 18, I'm gone! I'm never going to see him again! I only have two years before then! I can handle him for that long!" The blonde eyed girl defended herself as she crossed her arms in front of him._

_"To hell with that! You're not going back there! I already told you last night! What don't you understand!" He was growling now, not holding back his fury. What the hell was Lucy thinking going back there? Didn't she know how dangerous that was!_

_"You don't tell me what to do, Natsu!"_

_"If you think for a second that I'm going to let you go back after the hell he put you through last night, you're crazy! You **barely** made it out of there last night! Next time you won't be so lucky, Lucy! Don't you understand that! He could **kill** you!"_

The conversation ended there. She looked at him with regretful eyes and trailed her way back into his room. They hadn't talked the rest of the day, but his phone did go off all day. Messages from his friends had flooded his phone. It was mostly Erza and the stripper, with a few from metal face and Lisanna. They all wondered where he was and if he was possibly with Lucy. And if they knew where she was and why she hadn't shown up to school.

Though he didn't want too, he lied and told them Lucy was sick.

He knew that Lucy had attempted to try and talk to him when he would see her come out his room, but when he would see the retreated form of her back side, he knew she was giving up the chance to have a conversation with him. He slept on the couch again, but the next day, he went to school.

And even when he was at school, he was constantly thinking back to Lucy and if she was even still at his house right now. He hoped that she didn't decided to go back because he knew if she did, she wouldn't be able to get out of there a second time.

_"Hey Natsu." The pink haired pyro turned to come face to face with the petite bluenette, Levy McGarden._

_He grinned at her. "Hey Levy. What's up?" He asked, even though he already knew what she was going to ask him._

_"How sick is Lu-chan?" She questioned. "Because we all wanted to stop by and say hi."_

_And by all, that included Levy, Metal Face, the stripper, stalker girl, and Erza._

_"Yes, Natsu. Please do tell us since you are the only one who knows anything about Lucy and where she has been the past few days." Erza then joined the conversation and Natsu gulped. He didn't like lying, especially in front of Erza. If she ever found out their secret, both he and Lucy would be dead._

_"Oh, it's contagious! You guys can't go see her! I mean, her dad didn't even let me in to see her!" He laughed, but inside, he felt disgusted with himself. For lying, for protecting her asshole of a father._

_"Is she at least getting better?" The stripper jumped into the conversation now._

_"Duh. Why would I lie?" Natsu sarcastically commented towards the dark haired boy, who in turn glared at the pyro._

_"You want to be smart, pinkie? Keep talking!"_

_"Oh yeah! Let's go, Underwear Prince!"_

_"Shut the hell up! Both you idiots are annoying!" Gajeel said as he overheard Natsu and Gray arguing again. Natsu scowled at the dark haired teenager._

_"No one invited you to this conversation, metal face!" Both Natsu and Gray shouted as the onyx eyed teenager threw his backpack at Gajeel's face, which prompted him to get up and join in on the fray._

_Natsu, Gray, and Gajeel were arguing back and forth, leaving a very tempered Erza, who tried to calm them down, but managed to only hit her instead. That then resulted in Erza grabbing Gajeel and flinging him to the back of the class, kicking Gray in the abdomen, and punching Natsu across the face, which sent him flying also._

_"Things never change." Lisanna giggled._

_"That's for sure! At least we know Lucy's okay. Natsu wouldn't be so 'fired up' if she wasn't!" Levy smiled, in which Lisanna nodded._

_Little did they knew, the pink haired boy was putting together a facade, like he use to when he was younger._

_As Natsu watched them interact while soothing his now swollen cheek, he couldn't help but feel so shameful. He was lying right in front of them. He was deceiving them. He was covering up something appalling, atrocious, horrid._

_Lucy was not okay._

_He was not fired up._

_Everything was falling apart._

_And he had no idea how to fix it, how to put it back together._

_If it could even be put back together._

School had ended and he remembered feeling so anxious when he walked back to his apartment. He was hoping Lucy didn't leave, didn't return home. He was afraid her dad could have found her and dragged her back. He was afraid she would be hurt again.

So when he got home, he braced himself for any possibility.

_As Natsu reached for the handle to his apartment, he gulped, twisting it open. When he walked inside, he peeked around, searching for any signs of struggle or break in. Instead, everything was neat. Actually, everything was **clean**._

_Natsu and clean we're never in the same sentence._

_What did that mean? He thought to himself as he took a few cautious steps in. Happy was nowhere in sight and neither was Lucy._

_"Welcome back!"_

_His heart jumped out of his chest as his blonde haired best friend called out to him, a smile gracing her battered lips. He dropped his backpack and ran towards her, enveloping her in a deep hug. He heard her squeal, probably from surprise. The pink haired boy hugged her tighter, but not tight enough where he would hurt her. He could hear her say something like "Natsu!" but that didn't matter to him._

_She was here, in his apartment._

_She was safe, away from that monster._

_She stayed._

_Lucy stayed. Like she always had._

_"You're still here. Thank god." He whispered, his eyes shut. He didn't realize how **afraid** he was until he had her in his arms. Just knowing she was safe in his embrace calmed his racing heart._

_"Natsu..." Lucy wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled herself closer to him. He was happy, thrilled that the girl he was in love with was here, in his embrace. He didn't want to let her go. He didn't want to look away. Because he knew, the moment he did, she would be gone._

_"Of course I stayed. When do I ever leave you behind?" He could hear her mutter in his chest._

_"Stay here, Luce. Don't leave. Don't go back to that, to **him**." The blonde pulled away from him, gazing at him with those fragile brown eyes he fell in love with._

_"I don't want him to hurt you."_

_"And I don't want him to hurt you!" He argued, looking down at her with those determined onyx eyes of his._

_"Not anymore! I won't let him! You've suffered already too much, don't you think?" His heart was pounding loudly in his ears and he could feel himself getting worked up again. His temper was flaring as it always did. He cursed himself, wishing he had more self control._

_"It's not about me, Natsu!" She pulled away from him, crossing her arms in front of her. Her bruise had definitely turned darker and angrier, though the swelling from her lips had gone away. But the cuts were still there; the reminders of what he did._

_"It's about you! And Erza! And Gray! And Levy! And everyone I care about! If I don't go home, he will hire someone to find me, or worse, he'll search for me himself. Anything could happen! If he finds me here, he'll hurt you! If he shows up at school, Erza and Levy would put two and two together and figure it out! Their smart enough!" She was trembling again. "Don't you see!? They would defend me and Gray would definitely involve himself too! Not to mention, Gajeel and Jellal would also! And I **know** that you would immediately involve yourself too! That's putting you all in danger! I can't have that! I can't!"_

_She wasn't crying, but she was shaking. She was in distress, worried about the sake of her friends than rather herself. How could Lucy be so selfless in a situation like this?_

_"Who the hell cares!? You're our friend, Lucy! Our nakama! You matter to us! We care about you.** I care about you.** Erza, the damn stripper, metal face, Levy, Mira, Cana, we would all take a bullet for you! You mean so much to us! Wouldn't you feel the same way if it was any of them!?" His temper was rising again with each passing moment._

_"Dammit Lucy! Can you stop being so selfless for once! Your **life** is at stake here! Do you know how devastated everybody will be if anything happened to you? Do you know how much pain they would be in too see something like **this** happen to you?! Do you know how much it hurts me to see you like this? Do you know how much I **hate** myself for not catching this earlier and not helping you, **protecting** you? Dammit Luce! Can't you see how much we love you! How much **I love you!** Can't you see!?"_

_And it wasn't until the words left his mouth, that Natsu realized what he had just said. Lucy went wide eyed, her eyes almost bulging out of her head. He felt the back of his neck and tips of his ears burn up._

_He was mortified. This wasn't supposed to be how she found out. He never meant to tell her this way. It just came out, like word vomit. He couldn't stop himself. His anger got to the best of him. It was times like these where he wished he wasn't such a hot head and could control his compulsive behavior better._

_"Yo-you lo-love me?" She muttered in bewilderment._

_"Ah dammit!" He cursed to himself, diverting his eyes away from hers. "You weren't supposed to find out this way! I was supposed to tell you some other way- a better way! I mean, I was planning on telling you then all this shit happened and I decided I shouldn't say anything and just, fuck! It wasn't supposed to happen like this!"_

_"Since when?" He blushed, biting down on his lip as she asked him the next question._

_"Since the day I met you I guess. I mean- no... wait. Since the day you complimented my hair, I think. But I only just realized it when you were talking to me about that love stuff and I guess it kinda, sorta- well not really, well, yes really- wait! No, okay. It just hit me then okay?" He stuttered. He was totally butchering it and ruining it with his stupid rambling, he thought to himself._

_"Then I decided to ask the stripper, metal face, and Jellal for help and those assholes didn't help for shit and I knew I couldn't ask your friends and you know what, this is totally not the time for this type of thing!" His face was red and he felt utterly embarrassed._

_"You went to those three for help?" She giggled. "They can't even help themselves."_

_He frowned as he recalled there conversation in memory. "Yeah! Those dick heads kept saying I was hopeless and I was an idiot for just realizing this and that I had no chance. But then I got them back because I told the three assholes how they were just as hopeless as me and who knew, Luce, that all your rambling about love and what not came in handy!" He grinned sheepishly though the situation he was currently in._

_"Oh Natsu. You really are helpless." She smiled at him, earnestly and he could have sworn his heart stopped._

_He grabbed the back of his neck and looked away from her, feeling slightly rejected because she hadn't answer him back yet. "I'm sorry, Lucy. I didn't mean for it to happen like this. I just- I mean, I know this isn't the time or place for it and I don't want this to ruin our friendship or any-"_

_But he was caught off guard as Lucy grabbed both sides of his face and turned her back towards him, putting her lips gently against his._

_He couldn't believe it._

_Lucy was kissing him._

_His Lucy, his **best friend** Lucy, was **KISSING** him._

_He froze and suddenly realized he didn't know what to do next. He had never kissed a girl before. She was his first kiss and he didn't have experience at all. And by the time his mind clicked and told him to kiss her back, she had already pulled away._

_"Lu-Lucy?" He questioned her in astonishment, his cheeks burning with a hot blush._

_"Thank you for loving me Natsu. You have no idea how much it means to me." His heart swelled with happiness at the words coming out of his mouth._

_"But I can't." And with those three words, his heart deflated and he felt it literally break. Was this heartbreak? Was it supposed to hurt this much?_

_"It's not that I don't want too, Natsu." She grabbed his hands and cutched them tightly in her tiny grasp. The brown eyed girl looked up at him with pleading eyes. "I do. I really do." That grabbed his attention._

_"I've always held you so much closer to my heart than everybody else. I liked you for so long. I always liked you. I always wanted so much more than our friendship." Now he was staring at her in disbelief, eyes wide open._

_Lucy liked him? As in more than a friend?_

_"But I was so scared. I was so scared that if I acted on my feelings and stated loving you like I wanted too, Papa would hurt you. So I hid it and I locked it away. And now…" She stopped, biting down on her bottom lip. "-now… I don't even know what love is anymore!"_

_Natsu's eyes went wide as those words left Lucy's lips._

_"Papa tells me he loves me before he hurts me! Before he rapes me! He tells me he loves me so much and that was how he expressed his love for me! Is that what love is, Natsu? Is love supposed to be that painful? Is love really that **disgusting**? That **agonizing**? If it is, I don't ever want to love! And if you love me, I can't return those feelings to you! I can't! And you deserve someone who can love you with everything they have because you are just that amazing!"_

_Tears were now streaming down her face. He could hear the true sincerity and regret in her voice. She was clutching onto him tightly, leaning her head against his chest._

_Lucy didn't want to love? But she was always talking about love? She was always talking about how there was always that right person out there and how love was so special, like magic. She was always saying how wonderful it could be with a gleam in her eye and stars in her eyes._

_Had her father really messed her up this bad that she was afraid to love now? That it made her fear the very thing that once held her together?_

_That made Natsu's insides boil._

_"You deserve someone who doesn't lie to herself and run away from all this. You deserve someone who is pure and loving and innocent. You deserve someone who isn't tainted and filthy like me. Not somebody who is disgusting and-"_

_"Enough!"_

_Lucy jumped as Natsu glared down at her, his fist clenched tightly at his sides. His eyes were mad, angry, hurt, confused, delirious, wild. He didn't know what he was feeling, but it hurt. It hurt so much. Seeing Lucy like this hurt him, both mentally and physically. Seeing Lucy degrade herself was a stab to his chest. Seeing Lucy so weak and broken from the inside out tore him apart._

_"You are **NOT** tainted or filthy! You are **not** just some whore or some damn prostitute he can fuck everytime he gets horny! You **are** Lucy!" He grabbed her hands and stared deep into her brown eyes._

_"You are my weirdo best friend who thought she could befriend a lonely baby bird that was stuck in it's nest when we were seven, who was never afraid to stop me and Gray from fighting even though Erza was always the one who pulled us apart, who wasn't afraid to put the damn Gajeel in his place when he hurt Levy or called you names, who became friends with a bratty, pink haired punk who made fun of you for the first time he met you and deals with compulsive behavior all the time, who trips over her own two feet while just standing, who is way smarter than either of us could ever hope to be."_

_He smiled gently down at her as he stroked her cheek with the pad of his thumbs. "You're strong, Luce. So strong. And loyal and kind. You care about everyone and do your best to make sure everyone is alright. You are so forgiving, even when people do terrible things to you. Like with Michelle Lobster. She lied to your face and pretended to be your friend then went on to say those terrible things about you, but in the end, you **still** forgave her and befriended her."_

_His voice was soft; something that was uncommon for the brash boy. "You make people smile. You make people happy. Erza, Levy, Gray, Wendy, Cana, Mira, **me**. So many people care about you, Luce. This doesn't change **anything**. You're still you, Lucy. You're still adorable, clumsy, smart, beautiful, yet blonde, weirdo Lucy. You're still Lucy Heartfilia. And nothing and** no one** can change that."_

_Her eyes pooled with tears as he comforted her, reassured her of her existence. She bit down on her lip, almost looking like she was refraining herself from bursting into tears again. He had never seen the blonde cry so much. Sure, there were tears here and there, but sobbing, breaking down like this? Only a few times. And every time it was a cut to his heart because he knew he couldn't do anything to stop the tears from coming._

_"Oh, Natsu. Natsu." She wiped at her eyes as the tears continued, chanting his name over and over._

_"I wish I could love you as much as you love me. You are too good, Natsu. Yo-you are so good. I can't make you wait for me. I can't." Her voice was hoarse and choppy. "I don't even **know** if I can love again! And I can't make you waste your time when there is someone better for you out there." The pink haired pyro smiled down at her and laughed lightly._

_"Weirdo Luce! You're the one who taught me what love was, didn't you?" The blonde looked at him in surprise. "If it wasn't for you always going on and on about how 'magical' love was, we wouldn't be having this conversation!" He gave her his signature grin as he rubbed the back of his head._

_"You knew that feeling of love before, Luce. Wasn't it you who told me it was 'beautiful' or whatever? Wasn't it you who told me to hold on tight?" And with that question, her eyes went wide, almost as if she was recalling the memory. "That's **exactly** what I'm doing! I'm holding on tight and **never** letting go! And I know that once you get through this, you'll know what it is again. And when you do, I'll be right here waiting. However long it takes, I'll wait! Because you're my best friend, Lucy. My family. And there isn't anyone else in this entire world that I would rather be with than you!"_

_"Oh Natsu..." She covered her mouth as he grinned down at her._

_And since that day, Natsu had stuck to his vow._

After his_ 'declaration,'_ if that was what it was to be deemed, Lucy had hugged him so tight he couldn't breathe. He had never recalled the blonde having so much strength. But he wasn't going to argue with it. He enjoyed having her close to him. She completed a piece to his puzzle, one he didn't even know was missing.

Much to his delight, Lucy decided to stay with him. He remembered being so happy, so _relieved_. He had finally convinced her to stay with him and he was beyond happy. He could finally protect her and make sure no harm came to her. Though the memories of that night she came knocking on his door were still fresh on both their minds, they did everything they could to take her mind off of it. And Lucy decided to go back to school, something he was very happy about it.

_"Lu-chan! You're back!" Natsu grinned from ear to ear as Levy ran up to Lucy, crushing her in a hug._

_"Ah, Lucy. It's great to see you. We've surely missed you here." Erza was next as she put a still hand on her shoulder. "I hope you're feeling better."_

_"Much better!" Lucy replied with a smile on her face. An **actual** smile. And that made Natsu extremely happy. She looked so happy to be around her friends. To be away from that disgusting person who claimed to be her father. To be away from all the pain and suffering._

_"Flame brain over here has been all broody since you've been gone, you know? He kept mulling, 'Where's Lucy?' 'She's been gone too long.'" Natsu turned bright red as Gray mimicked him, adding fuel to his fire. He could see the gint of mischief in the strippers eyes._

_"Shut it, droopy eyes!" He yelled, glaring at the raven haired boy._

_He could hear Lucy giggle, knowing full well of the feelings he held for her. If she hadn't, Natsu would have probably punched the stripper to the other side of the world. Luckily for Gray, Erza had separated them and threatened to castrate them if they didn't behave._

_"Bunny girl." Next to Lucy, Gajeel was standing there, greeting her while pinching Levy's cheek. He could see Lucy talking to Gajeel and Levy, then jabbing a finger in metal face's chest while he and the bluenette blushed fiercely._

_"Happy Lucy's back, neh pinkie?" Gray jabbed at him, making Natsu growl._

_"I'm going to rearrange that ugly lookin' face of yours, you damn stripper!"_

_"Oh yeah? Bring it on, you damn pyro!"And again, they went at it. Erza came over to the two and flung them both into the lockers, terrifying everyone around them. Gajeel laughed boisterously as the two teenagers groaned in pain._

_"Trying to look cool in front of bunny girl, aren't ya Salamander?" Gajeel laughed as he walked over to the boys._

_"Fuck you, metal face!"_

_While the boys went back and forth, Lisanna and Juvia were next to greet Lucy while Jellal came a little later. She was surrounded by all her friends. And after recuperating from Erza's fury, Natsu couldn't help by grin by the atmosphere. She was happy and so carefree. She was smiling and acting like the past few days never happened._

_But he knew. He knew that in the back of her mind, she was still worried about her father showing up at school and taking her away or causing a scene. She was afraid that the makeup she bought wouldn't cover up the angry bruises that still rested on her pretty skin. She was afraid that someone other than himself would see through her lie and finally found out the truth._

_"Come on, Natsu! We have to go to class!" He felt a small, soft hand pull at his as a soft, cheerful voice called him out of his thoughts._

_"You don't want to get the headmaster angry, do you?" Lucy smiled at him as she squeezed his hand. He felt his heart skip a beat. In that moment, he really wanted to turn Lucy around and kiss her with everything he had, but he knew he couldn't. And even though that disappointed him, he didn't mind waiting. She was totally worth it._

_"Yosh! What are we waiting for! Come on! I can't get in trouble anymore! Erza will have my head!"_

Things we're actually moving forward peacefully, something he was very happy with. Jude Heartfilia was yet to be seen and Lucy was healing. Her smiles weren't forced, she wouldn't flinch away in pain as the bruises and damage done to her body began to heal, and she wasn't so uptight. And her nightmares started going away.

The first few nights, he would hear her screaming in the middle of the night, brashing around in her sleep, pleading for help. He would go running into his room and Lucy would be sobbing in her arms. When he first tried to comfort her, she would push him away. But not because she didn't want his help, but because she was _afraid_.

He would soothe her with his words and she would eventually fall asleep. She didn't know that he would stay up all night, watching her sleep to make sure she didn't have anymore nightmares. And she didn't, not after a few weeks. She was getting better.

Psychologically though, he didn't know how Lucy was dealing with it. There would be times where he would catch her staring at nothing in particular, looking so deep in thought. Sometimes her eyes went from bright and full to empty and dull. Where she was in this deep trance that made her seem so lifeless. Much to his chagrin, she didn't talk to him about it. And even when he would ask her, she just shrugged it off with a smile. Or when he annoyed her enough, some shouting was involved.

_"Natsu. I'm FINE." She glared at him as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Now would you quit **asking** me if I'm okay! It's annoying."_

_The pyro frowned. "How are you just 'fine?' You went through something **horrible** and you expect me to believe you when you say 'you fine?'"_

_"Yes! I'm fine! I have been dealing with this almost my entire life! It's not like this changes anything!" That was a stab to the chest as she turned away from him. It was another reminder that he was useless, that he wasn't there to help her._

_"Yes it does! If you would just talk about it with me instead of locking yourself away-"_

_"There's nothing to talk about! He beat me. He raped me. He put me through hell! It's as simple as that!"_

_And with that, she shut the door in his face and he felt rejected. Just hearing her say those words so carelessly made him cringe. He hated that word. He hated how easily she could use it. Everytime he heard that word, it made his insides boil. It made him remember how broken Lucy was. And more than anything, it made him want to tear Jude Heartfilia apart, limb from limb._

The lie he and Lucy kept was a lot easier to cover up than he thought. When it was just him, he was clammy and nervous, thinking about how he would spill the beans at any second. But for Lucy, it was so easy and she never looked the way he felt. But he figured that after lying all these years, it was just habit now.

Not only that, his friends picked on him all the time and were always making remarks about him and Lucy. He was always yelling profanities at them and telling them to shut up, though Lucy would shortly after yell at him for being loud. He friends would snicker at him and he would always grumble as Lucy would go on talking.

Though Lucy was aware of his feelings for her, they tried not making it awkward while she lived with him. For the most part, they were okay and got along just like they always did. But there would be times where they would accidently bump into each other and come so close that they were only mere inches away and one of them would quickly turn away or times when Lucy would be showering and his mind would be filled with perverse images of her, though he knew those thoughts shouldn't be there. There were other times where they would be watching TV, well he would be, and their feet or hands would touch by accident. Or when she would be in the bathroom, he would walk in on her by accident. Or sometimes, in the morning, when he was too tired to care, would walk around in just his boxers.

_"Soooo tired." Natsu groaned as he rubbed his eyes, trailing his way to the kitchen._

_"Cold!" He yelled as the he stepped on the cold tile of the kitchen. It also didn't help he was only wearing boxers._

_"I need food. Mmmm, Lushi should make me some food." He grinned to himself in his hazy sleep as thoughts of Lucy cooking for him came to mind._

_"Natsu!" He turned around, seeing Lucy wide eyed with a dark blush spread on her cheeks._

_"Lucy! Food!" He grinned lazily, pointing towards the fridge._

_"Why don't you try putting some damn clothes on, you pervert!"_

_He blinked. Once. Twice. "Whaaa?" He looked down at himself and suddenly felt all the blood rushing to his head. He realized he was clad in his dark red boxers and a certain part of his body was making a grand appearance._

_"Oh shit." He felt his face pale, mostly embarrassed that Lucy, out of ALL people, had caught him with morning wood. "Lucy- er- sorry! I didn-"_

_"CLOTHES! NOW!"_

_"Aye sir!" He squeaked, running right past her._

_"I'm not a sir!"_

That was one of his most embarrassing moments of his life, definitely. He couldn't look Lucy in the eyes the next few days! Eventually, things calmed down and they were back to normal, despite the fact that he was totally in love with Lucy.

He remembered that for those three weeks, everything was how it should be.

He had confessed his love for Lucy and was waiting patiently for the day she could say it back. Lucy was _safe_, away from harm. No one was _hurting_ her. No one was _touching_ her. She was safe. School was going great and everyone was having fun, enjoying each other's company, making memories with those around him.

And in those three tranquil, yet fun weeks, he thought life would get easier and things would start looking up.

_Natsu had just finished packing up his bag when he heard Lucy say something about going over to Levy's for the day and she would be back a little late. He gave her the thumbs up and threw his bag over his shoulder, heading home for the night._

_"Oi, Salamander." Called boy stopped walking and turned around coming face to face with Gajeel._

_"What?" His face soured as the black haired teenager walked up to him with a frown._

_"Is bunny girl living with you?"_

_Natsu felt his heart stop._

_"What? Are you stupid or something? Of course she's not living with me!" He lied, defending the secret he and Lucy swore to protect._

_"Don't call me stupid, Dragneel! I ain't dumb! You guys walk home together all the time and I just heard her say she was going to get back late tonight!"_

_"What does that have to do with anything! I walk Lucy home all the time! And yeah, she's helping me out with my stupid math homework!" That was the best he could come up with but he knew Gajeel would catch on. Surprisingly, Gajeel was smart. Not book smart, but street smart. He had quick instincts and acted and responded quickly to situation. It was all because of his affiliation with street gangs in middle school._

_"Something's going on, Salamander. I can **smell** it."_

_"You're full of shit, metal face. Nothing is going on! And stop smellin'! It's freakin weird!" He cackled at Gajeel, feeling weirded out._

_"Want to say that again, asshole?" The dark haired teenager grabbed Natsu by his scarf and pulled him up to his eye level. "Something's going on with bunny girl! I know there is! I've noticed it!"_

_Natsu felt his heart stop. What **exactly** did Gajeel notice? And Gajeel must have noticed the sudden change in the pink haired boy's disposition because he narrowed his eyes at Natsu, then let go of his scarf, Natsu falling back to the floor._

_"Someone's been hurting her. Either that, or she's really fuckin' clumsy." Natsu gripped his hands and bit down on his lip._

_This was bad. This was really bad._

_"I saw a few bruises on her legs during lunch one day, but I figured she just hit herself or somethin'. Then Levy brought it up that she noticed bunny girl had bruises on her back when they were changin' for PE."_

_His breath got caught in his throat. The world felt like it was getting significantly smaller._

_"I don't know what the fuck that means, but if someone's hurting her, Natsu, you have to tell us. You know the squirt and Titania won't stand for that." There was a slight edge in Gajeel's voice and his eyes furrowed in concern. He knew Gajeel cared for Lucy. They had gotten close since middle school._

_"You dumbass! Of course nobody's hurting Lucy!" Yes, someone was hurting Lucy. "Do you really think I would let anybody hurt her like that!?" He wouldn't, but he did. "You know I would kill anybody who hurt her!" He wanted to so badly, but he couldn't._

_"Besides! You know Lucy's always riding horses and what not! She fell off the other day when she went out for a ride!" He said quickly, remembering how the blonde would always talk to him about the three horses she had at her house. He felt sick. He was lying again. Lying right through his damn teeth._

_Gajeel looked over him in contemplation, studying him and his reactions. Natsu acted real enough, flaring his temper, his vein bulging, fire spewing from his mouth (not really)._

_"I guess you're right." The dark haired teenager nodded, unwillingly. "You're so in love with her you'd do anything." He mumbled. Natsu blushed instantly at his friend's words._

_"Yeah! So what! You're in love with Levy but you don't say anything either!" He countered back, leaving a very flustered Gajeel._

_"Oi! Shut the hell up!" Natsu found it a bit comedic at how Gajeel no longer denied it. Before, he'd always refuse and storm off, saying that it was the stupidest thing that could happen._

_"Kami. You guys are seriously the most annoying idiots I have ever met." Both hot heads turned to find the ink haired teenager that Natsu hated with a passion. He already felt himself getting annoyed by just looking at him._

_"Fuck off, you damn stripper!" The pink haired boy glared at his long time friend as he mouthed him off._

_"Shut the hell up you damn pyro!" Natsu and Gray locked foreheads as they glared at each other before Natsu threw the first punch, which knocked Gray over. Gray then threw his first punch at Natsu and they continued in their brawl, knocking desk over and dirting the classroom._

_"Why don't you both just knock it the damn off! Fuckin' idiots!" Gajeel yelled._

_"Shut the fuck up!" Both Natsu and Gray simultaneously shouted as Natsu had Gray in a headlock and Gray was prying Natsu's arms off of him. Gajeel growled as he joined in the fray and the three boys caused a mess that earned them an earful of a lecture._

Despite Gajeel's suspicions, he was able to dispel them from his thoughts. Playing video games and ragging on each other was the perfect distraction for Gajeel and himself.

And when he went home after long hours of sitting in front of the T.V., all he wanted was some good food and a good night's rest.

But sometimes even that was too much to ask for.

_The microwave went off as Natsu's noodles finished cooking. Because Lucy was gone, he had to resort to his noodles that he hid away in his secret hiding spot because when she moved in, she threw away all his precious noodles. She scolded him, tell him that he was eating too much sodium and was going to end up fat and full of sicknesses. Natsu did not enjoy that lecture from her._

_He trailed begrudgingly into the kitchen with his trusty cat following happily behind him. He mumbled something about missing Lucy's cooking as he reached for the cup of noodles in the microwave._

_"Ouch!" When he grabbed the scorching hot cup, he winced, cursing to himself slightly._

_That never really happened to him. He was good with heat and was never really affected by how hot things were, unless it was the summertime and the temperature was scorching hot._

_He shook it off, figuring it was nothing to worry about and blew the steam away before diving in. As he sat down and turned on the TV, he heard the locks of his door being fiddled with. He lowered the volume and listened. He clenched his fist, ready to attack a possible robber._

_"Ouch! Stupid door." He released a breath and smiled, unclenching his fist as he heard the voice from the other side of his door. The door flung open and there stood Lucy, rubbing her hands._

_"Oh hey, Luce! You're back early!" The pyro grinned, setting his boiling ramen back on the table. She returned the smile and shut the door behind her._

_"Yeah. We finished early! Erza ended up coming over after and we just had a mini girl's night." Her voice echoed throughout the room as the she stepped into the kitchen._

_"Figures." He scoffed with a wide grin. Levy was a bookworm and Lucy was smart. Putting the two together combined their strength in knowledge, which resulted in them always getting things done._

_Lucy walked back in and sat next to Natsu, a bowl of cereal in hand._

_"So what were you up too?" She asked before stuffing a spoonful of Honey Grahams into her mouth._

_Natsu pursed his lips, crossing his arms and legs into the lotus style. "I hung out with metal face and the stripper, kicked their ass in Call of Duty, then came back to eat ramen."_

_Lucy gave him a hopeless smile. "Sounds like you had a good day. Did you do your homework?"_

_He bit his lip, feeling the sharp stare his best friend was giving him. Sweat formed at the edges of his forehead. When it came down to their studies, well **his** studies, his blonde haired companion was far more strict and scarier than Erza ever had been._

_"Natsu," her sweet, yet deadly voice called out to him as she grabbed onto his shoulder, "did you do your homework?"_

_"About that…" He gulped, feeling Lucy's deadly glare on him. "You see Luce, I was having trouble and I just didn't-"_

_"Natsu Dragneel! What have I told you about getting your homework done!? How could you possibly ever think of succeeding in life if you never get your damn homework done!?" Called boy cowered in the corner of his couch as he watched Lucy lecture him with frightful eyes. Natsu felt that with Lucy around, he didn't really need a mother. She did a good job as acting as one._

_Which was weird considering Natsu was in love with Lucy._

_"I'm- I'm sorry Luce! I-I'll do it right now! I will! I promise!"_

_In the next few minutes, the T.V. was off and Natsu was pouting, sitting cross legged, his homework open out in front of him. He puffed his lip out, scowling as he looked over at the words on the page. He looked up at Lucy, who was still glaring down at him._

_"Do I really have to do this?" He nagged, just like a child. The furious blonde only intensified her glare at the pink haired boy._

_"If you had done it earlier, we wouldn't be in this situation right now!" He cringed at the sheer loudness of her voice._

_"Yeah! Yeah! Okay! Geeze! Sometimes you act more like a mom than Erza does!" He put a finger in his ear, acting like if he was cleaning it out._

_"Kami knows you need some guidance, Natsu. Where would you be without us!?"_

_He merely grinned at her, throwing the blonde off._

_"I wouldn't be anywhere without you, Luce! That's why I love you so much!" It was so easy for those words to just roll off his tongue, as if he had been saying them forever. Lucy went wide eyed, something Natsu noted. Maybe she just wasn't ready to hear them again, he thought to himself._

_She bit down on her lip, before releasing a sigh. She then smiled sincerely at him, before taking a seat next to the pink haired male. He watched her closely, wondering what she was going to do next. The brown eyed girl leaned against his shoulder and he couldn't help but blush at the close proximity between the two._

_"Baka Natsu." She whispered, "Finish your homework."_

_Her voice wasn't demanding like before. It went soft and gentle, like the wind sometimes. Though she hadn't told him she loved him, having her this close to him made him happy. Natsu swore he would do everything in his power to make Lucy fall in love with him._

_After half an hour of straight math homework, his mind was overwhelmed with numbers and signs and variables. He needed a break. He felt like his brain would explode. Luckily, a knock at the door was the perfect distraction for him._

_"Was that the door?" Lucy asked as she stretched her arms._

_"Yeah!" Lucy was about to get up to open it, but Natsu jumped ahead of her. "It's fine! I'll get it!"_

_With that, he raced towards the door and reached for the knob, wondering who it was. It actually could have been anybody. He suspected either metal face or the stripper. They probably wanted a rematch with him. He scoffed. He would win hands down._

_So when he opened the door, it wasn't Gajeel or Gray._

_It was a the point of a gun._

_And next thing he knew, there was an intense, scorching pain in the midst of his right shoulder as he fell to the ground. He clutched his aching shoulder as he gritted his teeth. The pain in his shoulder was unbearable as the blood seeped through his hand. His shoulder felt like it was on **fire**! He couldn't think because the pain sensors in his brain were overloaded._

_"NO! PAPA! **DON'T HURT HIM**!" He could hear Lucy screaming in the background._

_His senses were clouded as the pain in his shoulder intensified. He screwed his eyes shut as he muffled his cry. He had never experienced pain like this before. It was excruciating and unbearable. And when he felt a swift kick to his stomach, that pain skyrocketed._

_"Ah!" He yelped as another kick came in. His stomach felt like it was churning from the inside out. There was a searing pain that now spread itself out from his waist up. He then heard the click of the gun again._

_"PAPA! **PLEASE**!" He could hear Lucy pleading again, though it was muffled. His eyes were screwed shut as he bit down on his lip._

_"You think you can get away from me, daughter? You think that you could just leave me behind?" The pink haired boy heard the authoritative voice above him. He opened his eyes to see the booming figure of Jude Heartfilia standing over him._

_In the older Heartfilia's hand that was resting right above him was the gun the older man shot him with only moments ago._

_"Papa! Please! Don't hurt him! Don't! I'll go back with you! I promise!** I will**!"_

_Natsu heard the older blonde chuckled as he cocked the gun back. He wasn't going to let Lucy leave with this guy again, he promised her. He promised to protect her. He promised that he wouldn't let anything happen to her. And he was going to keep to that promise._

_He pushed himself up with the one good arm he had, ignoring the grueling pain in his other shoulder, but a new weight prevented him from getting any farther as Jude Heartfilia stomped down on the pink haired pyro._

_"Stay down!" The older man ordered as he crushed Natsu under his foot, making him yell in pain._

_"Papa please! Don't hurt him! **STOP**!"_

_He felt the crushing weight of the drunk's foot leave him as he felt the floor shake a bit from the fall next to him. He opened his eyes, breathing heavily, the pain crushing his chest. He gritted his teeth as he watched Lucy struggle to keep the gun away from her father._

_Ignoring the pain in his body, he hoisted himself up, his breaths coming in short and sweat trickling down the sides of his forehead. There was a pool of blood from his shoulder wound where he was being crushed and he could still feel the blood trickling down his arm._

_He then looked up and saw Lucy being flung to the other side of the room, crashing into the lamp table. The lamp that was resting on top fell on top of Lucy's head, making her cry out. Natsu felt his heart burst with rage as he watched Jude Heartfilia pull himself up._

_With one arm, he pushed himself up and unsteadily stood up, swaying from side to side as he hissed in pain, clutching his arm tightly._

_"YOU DAMN BASTARD!" He called out with as much force as he could. "STAY THE **HELL** AWAY FROM HER!"_

_He ran at jude Heartfilia with all the able strength he could, punching him, though it was weak. The old Heartfilia stumbled back slightly, his eyes red with anger as he looked back at Natsu._

_"Lucy, dear. I'm going to make you regret coming to this boy." The onyx eyed boy went wide eyed as Jude Heartfilia lunged at him and grabbed him, putting him in a headlock and putting his hand dangerously close to his neck._

_Natsu was struggling to breath as Jude's forearm trapped him, digging into his neck. Already feeble and weak from his blood loss, he felt his throat being crushed. "I'm going to kill him and then you will have to live with the guilt of knowing that **this was your fault**. This is what **you** get for** leaving me.**"_

_"Papa! Stop!" He watched as Lucy got up, tears in her eyes, blood trickling down her forehead. He gritted his teeth. The shattered lamp had cut her and now she was bleeding heavily from her head._

_The pink haired boy couldn't breathe. He felt his lungs being crushed and the pressure was too great. He couldn't feel his right arm anymore as it fell limp against his body. His feet were barely touching the floor as the pain in his upper body grew stronger. Through his slitted eyes, he could see Lucy glaring at her father, tears streaming down her face._

_Where was the gun?_

_"Lu-Lucy." He choked out. "Ru-Run away!"_

_Her eyes went wide eyed._

_"Run aw-away! I-I ca-can han-handle him! I'll fi-figure some-something out!"_

_"Shut the hell up!" He felt the older man squeeze his neck tightly with his forearm. Natsu gasped for air. He screwed his eyes shut._

_"So-So run! Run! Go-Go so-somewhere safe!" There was another hard squeeze. He gasped, small tears escaping through his shut eyes._

_"**NO**!" Natsu couldn't see her, but he could hear her. And he couldn't believe what she was saying._

_"I'm not running away!" He wished he could see her. He wish he could do more. But he was feeling so helpless. She had a chance to run away, to be free from him. She had a chance to escape, be free. But she wasn't moving. She wasn't running away._

_"I don't want to run away by myself!" Lucy did always hate being lonely. "Because no matter what, I want to be with everyone! With **you**!"_

_Natsu felt his heart clench as those words left Lucy's mouth. She was staying there with him. She had a chance to get away from this sick bastard, to get help. But she'd rather stay here, with him. She **wanted** to stay with **him**. She didn't want to leave **him**. Or the others. He wanted nothing more than to hug her and hold her tight. But he couldn't. He was being crushed by this asshole. He opened his eyes slightly, to see Lucy standing in front with this determined smile on her face._

_"Shut up! Both of you!" The booming voice of the man currently strangling him rang into his ear. That's when he heard the gun again. With the good arm he had left, he tried to pry himself from the massive forearm holding him back._

_"I'm going to blow his brains out and it'll be your fault, stupid daughter! It'll be all **your** fault! If you would have behaved and been a good girl, none of this would have happened!" The pink haired boy felt the point of the gun dig into his skull. He hissed in pain as he felt Jude press it harder against his skull._

_"NO PAPA!" He could hear her screaming._

_"Come closer and I'll shoot you too!" Natsu's eyes shot open as he heard those words. The gun left his head and he pointed it at Lucy._

_"First your mother leaves me and now you want to leave me. Tsk. Tsk." Natsu could hear the older man chucked darkly. "I won't allow it! I **WON'T**! You hear me!"_

_"**Please** don't hurt him, Papa! **Please**! I'm **begging** you!"_

_Natsu was struggling to keep his eyes open. He could feel his body beginning to shut down on him, fatigue taking over. The pain in his shoulder overloaded his senses. It was just a throbbing now, pulsing away. But he couldn't give up. No matter what happened, he promised to keep Lucy safe. He promised to save her. He wouldn't go back on his word, on his nakama, on his family._

_"Shut up! I'm going to kill him and then you and me are going to leave and you **will** be **punished** for your selfishness."_

_And that was when Natsu had heard enough. The onyx eyed boy growled, feeling protective of his friend. He could hear the disgusting undertone in this vile man's words. He could already picture the horrid and revolting things that would come to the girl he loved._

_And he would absolutely **NOT** let that happen again._

**_Never. Again._**

_"You-" he gritted through his teeth, "-SICK BASTARD!"_

_The wounded teen dug his fingernails of his one good arm into the brute arm around his neck, thrashing his legs with whatever energy he had left._

_"I WON'T LET YOU TOUCH HER AGAIN!"_

_"Ah! Damn brat!" The drunk yelled as he hissed in pain. Natsu released his grip on the man's arm and elbowed him in the side, causing Jude to lessen his hold on the pink haired teenager._

_"Natsu!"_

_Though he heard Lucy behind him, he ignored her in his blind rage. Jude stumbled back as he clutched his stomach, gun still in hand. Natsu sloppily fell forward, catching himself before falling over. Grabbing onto his shoulder, he scowled at the massive man in front of him with venomous eyes._

_"You're going to **pay** for what you've done to her!"_

_Ignoring Lucy's protest from behind him, he raced at Jude, cocking back his good arm. He threw a punch towards her father, sending him to the floor. Allowing his absolute lividness to take over, Natsu fell on top of him, pinning his arms with his knees, throwing punch after punch. He didn't know where he got this newfound strength, but he was beyond happy for this sudden surge. This strength made him feel invincible._

_All the sounds around the sixteen year old male were blocked out as he continued his assault on the sorry excuse for a father under him. He was enjoying the pain he was inflicting on the man. Every punch was relieving to pain in his shoulder didn't bother him anymore as the adrenaline coursed throughout his body. As he heard the cries of Jude Heartfilia under him, it was the best sound in the world to him._

_"NATSU STOP!"_

_He felt a soft hand grab at his rough, bloodied one. He immediately looked to his right, seeing a distraught Lucy, blood caking the corner of her forehead where the lamp fell on her. There was blood running down the side of her face and her eyes were red and swollen from crying. She looked so tired, so done with **everything**._

_"Lucy?" He whispered._

_"Natsu-" She whispered in a broken, tired voice. "Please. Stop."_

_He lowered his arm, his high wearing off. "We have to go. We have to get you help."_

_With the adrenaline rush wearing off, his body's sense came back to place. The pain in his right shoulder returned._

_"Damn it!" He cursed loudly, the pain becoming excruciating once again. He was in absolute agony. It hurt. It hurt **everywhere**!_

_"Come on, Natsu. We need to get you to a hospital." The onyx boy felt Lucy's arms pull him up. He tried to push himself up, but the aching was just **too** much. His arm felt like it was going to burn off. He wanted it to burn off because it caused him so much discomfort._

_"It hurts!" He cried out, biting down on his lip. Lucy led him away from the unconscious body of the man he beat to a bloody pulp. She put his working arm around her neck, carrying the heavy, wounded boy._

_"I know, Natsu.** I know**." He could hear her quiver though his mind was racing._

_"This is all my fault. This is all my fault."_

_Just barely, he could hear her whisper to herself as she dragged them to the door._

_"This is all my fault. All my fault!"_

_The pyro wanted to tell her it wasn't. He wanted to let her know he didn't care. But he was in oh so much pain that the only noises coming out of his mouth were groans and growls._

_"To hell with both of you!"_

_The world moved so fast._

_One minute, Lucy was carrying him to the door._

_The next, she flung him to the ground._

_There was a gunshot._

_Then another one._

_And then his world slowed again, playing everything in slow motion._

_He watched as blood flew around her, as her body jerked backwards, her back crouched, and her head whipped forward. He could hear her cries of pain as the bullets embedded themselves into her body. He watched as she fell so fast yet so gracefully._

_He watched as Jude Heartfilia walked towards them, a malicious, sickening smile playing on his lips, gun pointed right at him. Natsu scorned the man in front of him. He **loathed** him. He absolutely **despised** him._

_Diverting his eyes from the bastard father in front of him, he looked at Lucy, who was bleeding profoundly. She was sprawled out in front of him, eyes closed, twitching with pain. Her blood was **everywhere**._

_He looked back up at the abominable man in front of him, rage in his dark onyx eyes._

_"Die."_

_There was another gunshot._

_Another._

_And another._

_Natsu felt his insides explode. His body was on overdrive, every nerve and sensor working overtime. The pain was so great, so extensive that his body had no idea what to do for him anymore._

_He went numb. He couldn't feel **anything**._

_He felt himself fall back, his body falling to his own accord. His head hit the floor with a loud 'thump.'_

_He could hear screaming, shouting._

_He could hear noises in the background._

_But his mind began to drone it all out._

_His eyelids felt heavy._

_And his mind slowed down._

_Everything was bleak._

_And he was tired._

_So tired._

_All he wanted to do was sleep._

_Finally, his eyes fell shut._

_All the noises around him were no more._

_And all he could see was darkness._

_Complete and absolute darkness._

_**A/N: THE STORY DOES NOT END HERE. I REPEAT, TH******__E_ STORY DOES NOT END HERE.

**I know I said that chapter 3 would be the finale to the story, but it didn't end up that way. I went through and started editing, adding and subtracting things from the story. I also deleted scenes and rewrote them so they would fit the story better. And when I rewrote some scenes, I mean, I REWROTE scenes. I ended up adding more and I had to change the way the story flowed, which is why it took so long for the chapter to come out.**

**So, alas, we are here with not the ending, but rather, another segment. This part was actualy really difficult for me to write. There were so many things going on and I wanted to make sure that I was staying close to canon by having the characters stay very close to their canon personalities. I'm sorry if I made anyone OOC. **

**It is really hard writing Natsu. Like no joke. You don't know what is going through that boy's mind and he could be all happy one second, then pissy the next. I mean, this entire story is in his POV, if you haven't noticed it yet. And I give credit to those authors that write Natsu well because it is hard. I don't really have a hard time writing Lucy, but for this chapter, I did. I just hope I didn't disappoint.**

**As for the others, I think I did good. You know what's weird? I really enjoy writing Gajeel. I don't know why, but his brash behaivor is fun to write and explore with. I might do a one shot with him and Levy in the future. What do you guys think? Should I? **

**I hope I did justice for this chapter. I was really nervous about releasing it because I had never really touched on subjects like this. Let me know what you think! Did I do a good job? Bad? Anything in particular I need to work on? Character adjustments? Let me know! Reviews _and _criticism are enoucraged and apreciated! (Aslong as it's not flames or hate. I don't stand for flaming authors. It really irks me.) **

******Until next time!**

**-Dark Waffle**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: When you finish this chapter, READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTES. I REPEAT, _READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTES. _It is VERY important. DO NOT SKIP OVER THEM. Other than that, I present to you:**

**Part 4. Enjoy.**

**I don't own ****_Fairy_****_Tail _****or any of it's contents.**

"Speech"  
_'Thoughts'_  
_"Flashbacks/Dreams"_

**_Fallen Star_**

**_-O-_**

_"She is like a falling star who has finally found_  
_her place next to another in a lovely constellation,_  
_where they will sparkle in the heavens forever."  
_- Amy Tan

**_-O-_**

_"Push another epi!"_

_He was surrounded by darkness. His world stilled. His body was light, carefree. There was no pain. There was no agony. There was just **nothing**._

_"Another one?!"_

_Where was here? Why was everything so dark? Where did all the light go?_

_"Yes! Hold down the rag- damn it! He's bleeding out!"_

_He couldn't remember anything. His memory was as pitch black as the abyss he was swimming in._

_"I'm losing a pulse! Get ready for CPR!"_

_Suddenly, a light flashed, blinding him. He covered his eyes with his forearm._

_"I'll charge the paddles!"_

_Once the flash disappeared, he lowered his arm, blinking. He readjusted his eyesight to come face to face with a small glimpse of light out in front of him._

_"I lost a pulse!"_

_It was so warm, so welcoming. His hand instantly reached out for it._

_"Dammit! Charge to 300!"_

_**Natsu**._

_"Clear!"_

_Who was Natsu?_

_"Flatline!"_

_"Charge it again! 300!"_

_**Natsu**._

_"Clear!"_

_Was he Natsu? Was that his name? He couldn't remember._

_"Still no pulse!"_

_He reached out his hand, the tips of his fingers barely touching it. It was so gentle. It wasn't frightening at all. He felt himself smile. This light was welcoming, loving. He wanted more._

_"Charge to 330!"_

_Soon the light enveloped his arm, then his leg. Soon, half his body was consumed in this light._

_**Natsu**._

_That was his name, right? He was Natsu?_

_"CLEAR!"_

**_Natsu! Let's go play!_**

_He stopped himself from further enveloping himself in the light, his eyes wide open, the smile fading from his face._

**_Are you giving up that easily, Natsu?_**

_That voice._

_He knew that voice._

_He didn't know from where, but he knew it._

_"How long has he been down?"_

_"7 minutes."_

_"Dammit! Charge to 350!"_

_"Bu-but he's practically dead!"_

_"I don't care! Charge it to 350!"_

**_This isn't the Natsu I know! The Natsu I know doesn't give up! He doesn't back down!_**

_That voice! He knew it! He **knew** it! Where? Where did he know it from!?_

**_Be strong! How you always have been! Be that courageous dragon you've always wanted to be!_**

_The light suddenly intensified again. He cringed as the he looked away. Half his body was consumed, the other still in the darkness._

_He didn't want to go back to the darkness. The darkness was scary and unknowing. The light was welcoming and pure. It was gentle and sincere. The darkness was haunting._

**_Don't give up, Natsu! Stay. Stay here, with me. We're a team, aren't we?_**

_His eyes shot open as his lost memories filled his mind and crushed him. There were so many. So many people, so many adventures, so much pain, but so much happiness._

_Pink hair. A white scarf._

_Red hair. Strong eyes._

_Raven hair. Stripper._

_Black hair. Pierced face._

_Blue hair. Books everywhere._

_And so many others. All these people. All this memories. They filled him to a point where he felt like he was going to explode. He felt a headrush with all these thoughts, and words, and sounds, and names. He wanted it to stop. Stop all this. He couldn't handle it. It was just too much._

_A quick flash encased him. And there was another figure. This figure was radiating, like the sun._

_Blonde hair. Loving smile. Innocent brown eyes._

**_Come on, Natsu!_**

_That voice! It was that voice, again! Who! Who was it!?_

**_I can't do this without you. You're my best friend, Natsu._**

_He remembered._

_He remembered **everything**._

_Those innocent brown eyes, that gentle, loving smile, her long, shining blonde hair. Her sweet voice, her curvaceous body, her strong nature, her uplifting personality._

_The bruises. The cuts. The marks. The lies. The deceit. The gun shots. The screaming. The blood. The pain. The agony. The suffering._

_Lucy._

_It was Lucy._

_Lucy Heartfilia._

_His best friend and the girl he fell in love with._

_The girl he promised to protect. The girl he swore to love with every inch of fiber within him. The girl that brought him out of his darkness. The girl who never gave up on him. The girl who always had his back. The girl he was never letting go of._

_"CLEAR!"_

_Suddenly, his body felt on fire. His chest felt like it was caving in on itself. It felt like he was being ripped apart and the sudden jolt was excruciatingly painful. He was in absolute agony as tiny burst of electricity ravaged his body. The light that was once engulfing him was pulling away and the darkness was once again consuming him._

_"Again! Charge to 350!"_

_He felt his shoulder burning. The intensity of the pain made him grit his teeth as he clutched his right shoulder to subdue the physical, throbbing pang._

_"CLEAR!"_

_There was that jolt again and the light finally was ripped away. His chest felt heavy and there was a burning sensation in his stomach. It felt as if someone was gnawing at it, ripping away all the organs and intestines within him. It was sharp and gruelingly unbearable._

_"He's back! I have a pulse!"_

_It hurt so much! He felt himself being turned inside out. He couldn't take the stabbing in his right shoulder or the tormenting gnawing at his stomach. He felt suffocated and the pain sensors in his body we're going haywire. Everything was moving at hundreds of miles per hour._

_"Hang in there kid. We're almost there."_

_The darkness was swirling around him and the light faded. His pain was on overdrive. He wanted it to stop, but he knew that if it did, he was dead. And he couldn't let himself die. Not when he had a promise to fulfill and a life to live._

**_Hang on, Lucy. I'm coming._**

**_-O-_**

_"Push another epi! Get me the damn morphine! And where are those damn x-rays!"_

_He could hear faint voices._

_"I need another unit of blood!"_

_He didn't recognize any of these voices. There was lots of screaming and shouting. There was a small beeping noise next to him._

_"Tell surgery we're on our way in 5!"_

_His head was swirling. His mouth felt dry, his body heavy._

_"Ugh..." He moaned quietly, his senses finally coming back to him. Everything in his body felt numb. Whatever drugs they had him under really did the job, though, he felt horrible._

_"Doctor! He's waking up!" Another voice shouted._

_"Relax, Natsu. Everything will be fine. Just rest your eyes, son."_

_"Lu… Lu.. Lu-shi… -cy... Ugh." He mumbled, trying to coherently call out Lucy's name, as he groaned in pain. He felt the medicine overcoming him once more._

_There was another beeping sound._

_"Son, don't speak. Everything will be okay. Rest."_

_"Lu-**cy**!" He cried out, gritting his teeth. His breathing became haggard and heavy, coming in in gasps of air._

_"Is Lucy the young girl who came in with him?" Natsu faintly heard the woman voice ask quietly, in a hushed tone._

_"Yes." There was a melancholic tone to his statement. He didn't like it. He sounded too grim._

_"But sir, didn't she-"_

_"Enough! He's conscious!"_

_The pink haired boy groaned, a little louder. He needed to know Lucy was okay. He needed to make sure that she wasn't dead. He needed to know. Where was Lucy? Lucy! Where was she?_

_"Natsu. Just rest."_

_He heard the faint ding of the elevator. And his body was being rolled away on the stretcher. He could hear more voices and clattering of equipment. He could hear sounds around him. He could smell the sterile smell of the room he was now in. His eyes barely managed to open and there was a bright light shining down upon him._

_If it wasn't for the pain and dreadful fatigue he was feeling, he would have thought he was coming face to face with death again._

_"Alright kid. It's time for you to sleep."_

_There was a mask being put over his mouth and he could feel the air from the mask hitting his pale, chapped lips, entering his mouth._

_All his previous thoughts started diminishing as his body immediately relaxed. The sudden urge to sleep was powerful. He felt himself being pulled away from reality and entering a long sleep. Without as so much as a resistance, his eyes closed on their own accord and his breathing began to even itself. His mind switched the off button and he was once again enveloped by darkness. But before he was put out, he muttered a single word._

_"Lucy..."_

He remembered the next time he woke up, he was in his own private room. He was laying still in a hospital bed, a faint sound of ambulance sirens echoing through his window. The room was still and dark. He remembered feeling so tired, so weary. His body was still heavy and it hurt to move even an inch. He groaned in pain and felt so fatigued. His own body was drugged with every type of painkiller available, which he wasn't opposed to.

His arm was in a sling and he remembered just how rending it was to even move it. His stomach also felt sore and searing. He tried to stretch, but it hurt so damn bad that he cried out in a violet yell that was loud enough to alert a passing nurse.

The nurse came rushing in and called for his doctor immediately. He remembered they laid him back down, though he was opposed to it and started thrashing around. But once the doctor came in and sedated him, he calmed down.

And of course, after his pain subdued, he asked for the one person who was concerned with.

Lucy.

_"How do you feel, Natsu?"_

_The pink haired boy scoffed, a frown adorning his chapped lips. His scowl scrunched up as he tried to sit himself up without moving around too much. His shoulder was still throbbing and he could feel it stiffen on it's own._

_"I feel like I was hit by a bus." He commented dryly as he rubbed his shoulder lightly._

_"Which is understandable." His doctor responded. "The bullet ripped through your organs and destroyed your kidney. We had to take out your destroyed kidney and rearrange and repair some of your intestines. Also, your shoulder tendons were severely shredded from the impact of the bullet. Not only that, you have a broken rib and two cracked ones. Needless to say, you won't be able to move around for a while."_

_Natsu grimaced, cringing at the words leaving the doctor's mouth._

_"Damn bastard..." He muttered, cursing Jude Heartfilia for the condition he was in._

_"You we're lucky, Natsu. You lost a lot of blood and fell into cardiac arrest twice. Not to mention, hadn't the police arrived when they did, you would have been dead with a bullet to your head. Instead, you only suffered a minor graze on the side of your neck."_

_The onyx eyed boy looked up at his doctor and unconsciously reached for his neck, clutching the spot where the bullet just grazed him. There were bandages wrapped around his wound and he rubbed it lightly._

_"There will be a scar most likely, but nevertheless, you are lucky to be alive."_

_It was then that it hit him. He was alive. He was alive. No matter how crummy and lousy he felt, he was alive. He was breathing and lived to see another day._

_His eyes went wide. Lucy. Where was Lucy? Was she okay? Was she alive?_

_"You are going to be in a lot of pain for awhile and it will take a while to get you back to your normal routine. You're going to need physical thera-"_

_"LUCY! Where is she!?" The doctor was caught off guard as Natsu's voice rose suddenly. His mind was racing and his hands were clammy and sweaty. His heart was racing and he couldn't breathe. He could feel the strain and toll on his body as he jerked and moved around, but he didn't care. He just had to know if she was okay, if she was **alive**._

_"Where is Lucy!? Tell me!" He said as he reached for the doctor with his one working hand and pulled on the front of his scrubs. The doctor went wide eyed as Natsu pulled him towards him. The pink haired boy knew he was being rash again. His abrupt behavior always got him into all sorts of trouble._

_"Whoa! Calm down, Natsu!"_

_"WHERE'S LUCY!?" There was a velocity in his tone that he didn't even know he had. He wouldn't calm down until someone told him where Lucy was. He had to make sure she was okay. He needed to make sure she was okay. He **had** to know she was breathing._

_"Natsu! Shouting won't answer your question!" The older man stated, carefully peeling the pink haired boy's hand off of his shirt so he didn't hurt him._

_"I don't care, dammit! Where's Lucy!?"_

_The air suddenly chilled as the doctors face fell, crest-fallen and dejected. He sucked in a breath, bracing himself for the worst news. He could feel tears form at the rims of his eyes, not believing that Lucy had left him. But the desolate look the doctor was giving him did not bring him hope. But he didn't want to believe that Lucy was dead. No. Lucy was strong. She would survive. She survived this long!_

_"If something happened to her and you guys weren't able to do something about it, I will kick all of your guys asses!" The pyro shouted, his eyes becoming watery with every word._

_"You guys saved my life! You even said that I was lucky to have lived! So the fact that you were able to keep me alive just proves how good you are!" He held his breath, refusing to let his tears fall. "So you **better** have saved Lucy's life too!"_

_The doctor took a deep breath, a grim line replacing the wistful look adorning his older features._

_"Lucy Heartfilia had extensive injuries. Despite the gash on her forehead and concussion she suffered, she was shot three times. Once in abdomen, twice in the chest. The bullet to her abdomen caused a rupture in her liver and she was bleeding profoundly. Not only that, one of the shots to her chest was so impactful that it caused a collapsed lung and the other was so close to her heart that it was almost inoperable."_

_Natsu clenched his one suitable, healthy hand, grating his teeth together as he scowled at the bed sheets in front of him. He still refused to cry. He couldn't cry. He had to be strong. He had to be strong for Lucy._

_But this emotional pain within in was far greater than anything he had ever experienced._

_"On her way here, she had coded twice. In the operating table, two more times. They had to manually massage her heart to keep it going as they removed the bullet from that area. She lost more blood than they could provide. Her vitals were low and she wasn't responding to any medication, any treatment."_

_"No..." He muttered to himself, knowing the dreaded words that were coming next. The infamous 'I'm sorry, but there was nothing more we could do' line was coming up. Which was shortly followed by 'He/She died.' And Natsu refused to hear those words._

_The tears were still at the rims of his eyes, building silently._

_"There wasn't anything else we could do." No. He refused to listen! Lucy was NOT dead. She was stronger than that! Lucy was NOT dead. She's ALIVE._

_"But, she pulled through."_

_His eyes went wide and he looked up at the doctor with shock, his tears now falling freely down his cheeks. The doctor was now giving him a small, sad smile._

_"Though her injuries were great, she pulled through. After her final cardiac arrest, she remained stable long enough for the surgeons to repair her injuries." His smile disappeared, making Natsu worry, and thin line replaced it. "Though, because of the extent of her injuries and the taxation it did to her body along with her being down so long, which prevented oxygen from going to her brain, there is no telling when she will awake."_

_"Wait! You mean Lucy's in a-"_

_"Coma. Yes. Ms. Heartfilia's currently in the ICU right now. She is still not stable enough to move into a private room where she isn't being monitored at all times. She has been in a coma for a week now. As you have been out for a week also. We predicted for you to awake within the next week. But, for the young Heartfilia, there is no telling when she will awake, if she does." He added in a soft mumble at the end._

_His mind was circling with information. Natsu was feeling overwhelmed again. Like he did when he had a history test and had to stuff a bunch of pointless information he was going to forget right after._

_Lucy was alive._

_She was alive._

_But at the same time, there was a chance she wouldn't wake up._

_Ever again._

_The pink haired boy cursed himself. He couldn't protect Lucy. Instead, Lucy protected him. She was hauling him out the door when he was withering in pain. She was dragging him to safety. She took the bullets for him. She **saved** him._

_And he couldn't do a thing to help her._

_"Natsu." With a fallen, angry face, he looked up at the doctor, fury and regret in his eyes._

_"If you ask me, I think Ms. Heartfilia will pull through. The fact that she made it this far with the type of injuries she suffered is more than enough proof that she is strong willed enough to make it."_

_Natsu casted the doctor a suspicious look. Though the odds weren't in the favor, he also believed that Lucy could pull through. He would never give up on her. He would never lose faith in her. She would come back to him. He knew it._

_"She's strong. She doesn't know when to give up. Lucy will keep pushing until she's won! Luce doesn't take shit from anybody!" Except from her no good father._

_Natsu immediately stilled. Her father! How could he forget her father! What happened to him!? He thought to himself as his eyes went wide._

_"The damn bastard! What happened to him!? Did he get away!? Did they catch him!?" Questions rapidly came off Natsu's tongue like vomit. He felt himself boil from within, thinking to how it was all her father's fault that he and Lucy had both ended up in this predicament. That he was lying in a hospital bed and Lucy was in a coma. It was all that asshole's fault._

He remembered that he couldn't calm himself down even after the doctor had asked him too. It wasn't until the doctor threatened to sedate him again that he decided to calm down. Once he settled down, the doctor told him all that happened.

Apparently, right after he was shot in the abdomen, the police had shown up and shot Jude Heartfilia, which made the bastard's last shot miss him entirely and only nicked him in the neck. The police had shot Lucy's dad a few more times until he went down. He knew now that that must have been all the ruckus going on when he knocked out from the blood loss and pain.

He and Lucy were taken to Tokyo University Hospital immediately. Jude followed right behind them. When the doctor told him that Jude was alive, but in custody, he was beyond livid. He remembered thinking how unfair it was that Lucy's tormentor was alive and recovering while Lucy's life was still hanging in the balance. He remembered how he wanted nothing more than to go to Jude Heartfilia's room and finish the job himself.

The doctor also told him that once Jude Heartfilia was stable enough, he would be transferred to the State Prison for attempted murder. But he knew how much the judicial system sucked and told the doctor that there was more to charge the bastard with. That ended in him being questioned by the police where they asked him to retell the events that happened that night. He also made sure to tell them of the older Heartfilia raping and assaulting Lucy and what happened the night Lucy revealed her horrifying secret to him.

Though there wasn't evidence of rape anymore, there was enough evidence to charge her father for assault because of the old breaks and cracks in her bones that never healed properly. They had shown up on her x-rays and it was enough to prove half of his statement, though the police also secretly believed him when it came to his statement of his blonde friend being sexually assaulted.

He remembered he also had another problem to deal with.

His friends.

His other family other than Lucy and Happy.

Fairy Tail.

_"Because you don't have immediate family, I contacted your legal guardian, Mr. Makarov Dreyar. He's the headmaster of Fairy Tail Academy, is he not? Do you attend Fairy Tail?" Natsu choked on his drink and spit it out. He paled immediately. If the old man knew, he knew that soon all of Fairy Tail would know. Which meant that Erza and all his friends would know. And if they all knew, they were going to barging in on him any day now and demand answers and explanations. Especially Erza. Erza was going to kill him._

_"Uh, yeah. Yeah he is. And yeah, I do." He gulped, the corners of his forehead forming sweat._

_"How that happened I would like to know." He chuckled as he wrote down the process of Natsu's recovery. "Anyway, right after I sen you up for surgery, I contacted him and told him what happened."_

_"Wait! Exactly did you tell him!?" He abruptly cut off his doctor, who looked surprised._

_"I just told him that you were shot and were currently in the middle of surgery." Natsu let out a relieved sigh, happy that they hadn't told the older man the details and why this happened._

_"But when he arrived, the police told him what happened and when he learned that Ms. Heartfilia was also involved, he was rather enraged. I didn't know that the headmaster cared so much for his students."_

_Natsu could feel the cold sweat. He was actually really frightened at this moment. Makarov knew the truth. Well, not entirely, but he would also be stopping by and demanding answers and the truth. Though he knew he would face the wrath of his headmaster, he was still relieved to finally get this secret out in the open. It had been eating him alive._

_Not only that, he was constantly mulling over Lucy and demanding to see her. But the doctors had told him he couldn't. Natsu himself hadn't recovered enough to walk for long periods of time. and going to Lucy's side would strain his body. Not only that, because he was recovering, he was restricted from entering the ICU. He could catch an infection from the others or give something to other patients._

_"The old man cares a lot for us. Lucy especially. Ever since her mom died, the old geezer watched over her a lot. She wasn't the only one, but she was one of them, along with me. There's a group of us he has a soft spot for. I guess you could say that we're all fucked up some way or another, but he's always been there for us when no other adult has."_

_"I could tell. Despite his size, Mr. Dreyar was definitely not a force to be reckon with. After the police told him of Ms. Heartfilia's condition, it took all of us to prevent him from killing Jude Heartfilia himself. Luckily for us, his grandson was able to restrain him." Natsu laughed out loud, grabbing onto his stomach, no matter how much pain he was in. The pink haired boy could hardly imagine a group of people trying to stop a small man from his fury._

_"And because Ms. Heartfilia also does not have immediate family, Mr. Makarov also entitled himself as her official guardian." The onyx eyed boy stopped laughing and looked up at the doctor._

_"He did?" The older man nodded, a gentle smile gracing his lips._

_"Yes. He came by every night when you were out to visit both you and Lucy. The second night, a young scarlet haired woman and dark haired man came along with him. They returned every night you were out." Natsu paled again. Scarlet and raven haired woman and man. That was definitely Erza and Gray he thought to himself._

_The injured boy gulped. Not only did the old man know, but so did Erza and Gray and Laxus and who knew who else. They were all going to bombard him for answers and knowing Erza, she was going to be the worst of them all. Not only was Erza like a sister to him, she cared deeply for Lucy. Any harm coming to Lucy and she immediately put a stop to it. And the damn stripper was overprotective of her too._

_He was dead._

And no more than a few hours later, the headmaster of Fairy Tail had come and visited him. He remembered how frightened he was to face his guardian. When he arrived, he tried everything he could to avoid talking to Makarov, but his doctor forced him too.

It didn't help that all his friends were there also.

Of course the old geezer visited him and didn't allow anyone to be in there with him. He remembered he was scared the hell out of his mind.

Natsu gripped the sheets of his bad as he heard the door open. He gulped, knowing that he was about to be in for a lecture of a lifetime. Hopefully the state he was in would calm the man down. Maybe it would calm him down enough to not kill him for keeping such a dark secret.

_"Natsu." Called boy immediately looked up. There in front of him stood his headmaster and legal guardian, Makarov Dreyar._

_He had this hard, stern look in his eyes that normally had the kids at Fairy Tail running for their lives. The pink haired boy usually didn't fall victim to this intimidating look for he was constantly challenging the headmaster and giving him a run for his money. But at this moment, he felt like an insignificant ant hoarding food to it's queen, or in this instance, king._

_"Hiya gramps!" He gave him a forced smile and raised his mobile left hand for a wave. "Nice seeing you here!"_

_"You **stupid** brat!" Natsu went wide eyed, suddenly fearing for his life._

_"Wha? Old man! Huh? Wai-Wait! Don't throw that at- OUCH!" Natsu clutched his head with his one good hand, crying anime tears as he sniffled while Makarov scoffed at his student's pettiness._

_"Damn it, old geezer! Can't you see I'm INJURED!" Natsu yelled, rubbing his head._

_"Yes I can see that you stupid child! You stupid, stupid child!" Makarov spoke to him in a condescending tone that fired Natsu up even more._

_"So what you hitting me for, dammit!?" He pouted, leaning back against his pillow, trying to cross his arms, but to no avail, couldn't because of his useless deadbeat right arm._

_"You had us all worried sick, you damn brat! Not only are you part of Fairy Tail, but you are now under my guardianship! You pestering brats are like my children! And when my children are hurt, it is something I do not take lightly!"_

_He winced at the tone in his guardians voice. "So why the hell are you hitting me then!?"_

_"Because you are a fool, Natsu!" The short, older man's eyes narrowed, scrunching his eyebrows tightly together. "You do reckless things without thinking about the consequences! You are hot headed and brash! Dammit boy!"_

_Natsu could hear the quivering in the older man's voice. In that minute, he felt guilty. Guilty for causing so much trouble and heartache to the man who took him in as one of his own._

_"I'm sorry gramps. I didn't mean to worry everyone. I was just trying to do the right thing." The injured boy whispered, his face fallen._

_"I suppose they told you about Lucy already…" He nodded his head, feeling a pull at his heart._

_"Natsu." There was a soft yet authoritative tone in his headmaster's voice. It was the same voice he used when he asked the pink haired boy if he wanted to be under his guardianship._

_"Tell me everything."_

_Releasing a rough sigh, he looked up at the only person Natsu considered a father figure in his life._

_He told him everything._

When he finished telling Makarov, the room fell heavy with silence. His headmaster had fallen fairly quiet and not an ounce of emotion was visible on his face. He remembered he suspected for the man to explode with anger and wring him for keeping such a horrid secret. But as he told gramps the story, his face fell more and more. But not into anger or sadness, but into something worse. He went completely stoic. Natsu couldn't tell what he was thinking.  
He remembered the old man told him that he was happy he was alright. He remembered that he told him he would come by and check on him later. And that Erza and everyone were waiting to see him. He asked the old man if he was upset with him, to which he responded with a single sentence.

_"Sometimes, the wrong thing is the right thing to do, Natsu."_

And with that, he walked out.

He had never felt so defeated, so pathetic. He felt like it was all his fault. He could have prevented all that happened. If he hadn't listened to Lucy and just gone to the police, he wouldn't had to be in the hospital and Lucy would have never been in a coma. He wouldn't have caused so much worry. And when his friends came in to see him, he didn't bother masking his pain, his regret, his guilt.

_"Natsu?"_

_Called boy looked up to see the infamous Erza Scarlet standing at the door. Her eyes were always so confident and strong. She always had the perfect posture and stood with a sense of sophistication. She was always the rational, level headed one of the group._

_He smiled weakly. "Hey Erza."_

_And for the first time in his life, Erza Scarlet embraced him in a hug. Not just the silly hugs or the one armed or forced hugs she gave him all his life, but the hugs that meant something. He went wide eyed, shocked at how fast she was able to get to his bedside from the door. She was squeezing him against her chest and if he thought he heard right, hold back a sob._

_"Er-Erza?" He whispered in question._

_"You damn idiot, Natsu! Don't you dare worry us like that ever again!" She pulled away and with wide eyes that almost popped out of his head, saw the fierce and unbreakable Erza Scarlet with watery eyes. She wasn't sobbing, she wasn't crying, but there were tears in her eyes. Tears that could easily cascade down her face._

_His face dropped, feeling another pull at his heart. "I'm sorry, Erza. I didn't mean to have you all worried."_

_"Don't you think you cut it pretty close, flamebrain?" He looked over Erza's shoulder to see his enemy and number one rival, Gray Fullbuster walk in. He was wearing a scowl and to Natsu's surprise, clothes._

_The pink haired boy couldn't stop the smirk from appearing on his lips. "Maybe, underwear freak."_

_Gray smiled under his scowl, walking over to his bedside._

_"It's good to see you haven't kicked the bucket yet." Natsu gave his number one rival a grin._

_"Not yet! We got a match to settle!"_

_Gray merely rolled his eyes with a smile tugging at his lips._

_"Fuck, Salamander! Who the hell do you think you are!? You think you could just go and get yourself shot and then die and magically come back to life! The fuck you think you are! Don't think that this means I can't beat the living shit out of you!"_

_Natsu stifled a laugh as Gajeel Redfox stomped his way into the room with a scowl embedded on his face. He looked so upset, so worked up. He was snarling and coming at Natsu with an intent to kill. The pyro noticed that at his side, Levy McGarden was pulling at his arm, trying to stop him from hurting the already injured boy._

_"Gajeel, **please**. Natsu's **already** hurt! You don't need to add to his suffering anymore!" She pulled at his arm, but not surprisingly, was no match. She casted him a sorry looked._

_"I'm sorry Natsu. I'm trying here. But it is really good to see you're okay. We were all so worried about you. And though he wouldn't admit it, Gajeel was too." Everyone in the room chuckled and Gajeel turned red, stopping in his tracks. For a brief second, Natsu could see the sadness in the bluenette's eyes. And he knew why. Other than Gajeel, Lucy was the only other person Levy hung around with. She used to hang out with Jet and Droy a lot, but since middle school, she and Lucy had become incredibly close._

_"The hell!? Fuck no! Now let me go, shorty! Dammit! I'm going to give this damn asshole a piece of my mind!"_

_"I advise you to stop, Gajeel." Erza's authoritative tone rang throughout the room. "I know how much of a nuisance Natsu can be, but now is not the time to punish him for his stupidity."_

_Natsu deadpanned at Erza's words. "Hey! I'm not stupid!"_

_"Once he is healthy, then we will reprimand him for his foolish mistakes." Natsu gulped as a cold shiver ran down his spine. "Until then, if you as so much touch a single hair on his head, I will not hesitate to put you in a bed right next to him, understood?"_

_Natsu stifled a laugh as Gajeel turned bright red, then turn away from Erza as her threat hung in the air. He stalked to the back of the room, Levy tailed behind him. He snickered quietly to himself._

_"And you!" He stood up straight at the sharp voice of Erza, despite the sudden pain in his abdomen._

_"Don't think that just because you are injured that you're out of the woods!"_

_"Aye sir!"_

_The room was engulfed in laughter as Natsu cowered in Erza's presence. He grumbled to himself, low enough to where Erza wouldn't hear him._

He never remembered feeling so love in his life. Following his gang, he remembered more of his friends from Fairy Tail showed up. Jellal came next, wishing him a speedy recovery. Apparently, Juvia was outside the door the entire time, stalking Gray. She eventually made her way in when the Strauss siblings arrived. Lisanna tackled him in a light hug, crying and thanking kami he was alright. Elfman went on to say how he was a 'true man' for surviving and only 'real men' could take a bullet so easily. Mira, he remembered, he was surprised to see because she was attending Tokyo University at the time. But because of her relationship with Laxus, she had heard about his and Lucy's accident. And because she held Lucy very dear to her and saw her as another little sister, she had come immediately.

Nevertheless, she gave him a gentle hug and told him she was happy to see him alive and breathing. Erza and Gray relayed hellos and prayers from his other friends at Fairy Tail. He hadn't felt so loved in so long. Having all his friends by his side reminded him of all their crazy adventures and the good times they all had together.

But he knew that everyone was faking it just as much as he was. Nothing was right. Sure, they were celebrating that he had lived, but he knew that in the back of their minds, they were just as worried for Lucy as he was. But they didn't bring it up. Either they were afraid of how he would react or they just didn't have the heart to remind each other that Lucy was still in a coma and fighting to come back to them.

He also knew that they were weighing the ultimate question heavily of _what happened_ and _why did it happen_. They were each finding the right moment to ask, but to their avail, it never came.

And he remembered that he was dreading it more than anything.

Eventually, his friends had started leaving. He knew some were itching for the truth behind what happened, but he wasn't spiling. At least now now. The Strauss siblings left first, then Juvia, much to her chagrin, then Jellal.

The only ones left in the room were Erza, the stripper, metal face, and Levy. The room felt tense and heavy. It was the same heavy silence that he encountered after he revealed the truth to the old geezer.

It was suffocating to say the least.

_"Natsu."_

_The boy laying on the bed sighed, his eyes hard and grim. A scowl graced his tanned face. He knew Erza's different tones of voice by now. And this was one that you didn't object too._

_"I know. You want to know what happened." He said, in a low voice, but enough for everyone in the room to hear._

_He could hear Levy's voice hitch, Gajeel scoff, Gray clear his throat, and Erza release a penetrating sigh. This could either be bad or really bad, he thought to himself as he clutched the sheets of his bed again. And he knew that at the end of it, they were going to be more than just upset at him. They were going to be highly disappointed._

_Just like the headmaster was._

_"Don't leave out a single thing, Natsu." He wasn't going to object to Erza's request. He wasn't going to hide it any longer._

_"For you guys to know why I'm in the hospital and Lucy's in a coma," the room stilled and he knew everyone stiffened, "I have to start from the beginning."_

_Everyone nodded. Gray pulled up a chair and sat down. Gajeel leaned against the wall while Levy sat in another chair right next to him. Erza sat silently, in the chair at Natsu's bedside. He nodded and inhaled deeply. He released his sigh. He didn't even notice that his hand was shaking._

_"It all started after Lucy's mom died…"_

And he told them _everything_, not leaving out a single detail, just like Erza requested. He told them as much as Lucy had told him; from the first time her father had hit her to the first time he raped her. After he finished telling them about Lucy's first time being sexually assaulted, he remembered how stifling and silent the room was. He remembered looking up and casting small glances at the people in the room.

Levy had her hands clasped around her mouth with tears running down the sides of her face.

Gajeel had this deathening scowl and fury filled eyes.

Gray had his arms entwined in front of him, clenching them so tightly that his knuckles were pale white. He was resting his head against his hands and was deathly still.

Erza was probably the worst.

Her face was stoic like gramps was, but her eyes were swirling with emotions. She was grasping her hands tightly in her lap.

He remembered looking back down at his hands, guilt hitting him hard.

He then continued the story, telling them all Lucy had told him, which wasn't very much considering she hardly talked to him about what happened.

And after he finished retelling the story of when Lucy showed up to his door bloodied and broken and what had happened only a week earlier that lead to both of them being in the hospital, hell broke lose.

_Natsu watched with heavy eyes as Levy sobbed in her chair. Gray abruptly stood from his chair and made his way out of the room without a sound. The onyx eyed boy could hear Gajeel cursing to himself and probably to him as well as he walked towards the window and punched the wall. And Erza hadn't said a word. Her face was hidden by her scarlet red hair. He couldn't read her._

_"You're such a fuckin' idiot, Salamander!" He heard Gajeel say as he punched the wall again. "You had the fuckin' chance to prevent this! You had the chance to stop all this from happening!" The pierced faced teenager turned away from the window and walked towards Natsu, grabbing him by the front of his hospital gown._

_"If you had some fuckin' common sense, you would have called the fuckin' police! If you had just half a brain in the fuckin' skull of yours, you wouldn't be laying on your ass in that fuckin bed right now! And Lucy wouldn't be in a fuckin' coma fighting to stay alive! **All this could have been prevented had you just used your fuckin' brain you dumbass**!"_

_"I KNOW!" Natsu shouted back, tears forming at his eyes. He knew exactly what Gajeel was telling him. He knew it was his fault that they were in the hospital right now and Lucy was still at life or death._

_He peeled himself away from Gajeel's grasp, falling against the bed._

_"Don't you think I **know** that?! Don't think that for a **second** I didn't think about telling someone at **every** moment! You know how **hard** it was for me to see Lucy the way she was!? To see her so broken and hurt! It **killed** me! And even after that, she **still** didn't want me to say anything! She asked me to not say **anything**! I was so **angry** at her for protecting that damn bastard! More than anything, I wanted to say something!"_

_"Then why the **hell** didn't you say anything!? You **lied** to me, Natsu! I asked you! I fuckin' **asked** you! I asked you if someone was hurting her and you lied to my fuckin face! You said she fell off a stupid ass horse! You had the chance to tell me then! You had the **fuckin chance**! All this could have been avoided had you told me, **us**!"_

_He bit back a remark as tears filled his eyes. He shut his eyes. He knew it was all his fault. He knew that all he needed to do was tell Erza or the headmaster and everything would have been taken care off. He knew that if he had just told someone, Lucy would be safe and out of harms way._

_But he didn't._

_He didn't and now Lucy's life was hanging by a mere thread._

_"Is this true, Natsu?"_

_Natsu could hear Levy ask in a gasp. He couldn't bring himself to look at her. He couldn't bring himself to look into her eyes when they both knew full well that he lied straight to her face also._

_"That day when I asked you if Lu-chan was okay. It was the day after her attack, wasn't it?" He heard Levy ask him, but Natsu said nothing. "You said she was alright, but really, she was in pain. She was in so much pain. You lied to me. You said she was okay. She was hurting. She was hurting so much!" He heard her cry out. The pink haired boy heard the chair screech against the hard floor as small footsteps made their way out of the room. He heard the door shut._

_"Fuck." He heard Gajeel curse. "Damn it, Natsu. You really fucked up." Gajeel spat. He heard the strong footsteps of the dark haired teenager lead out the door; probably to follow after a heartbroken Levy._

_He and Erza were the only ones in the room now. She hadn't said a word or even breathed a sound since he started and finished the story. As shitty and pathetic as Gajeel and Levy made him feel, Erza's silence hit him the worst. Gray walking out on him pulled at his gut, but Erza's silence was killing him._

_The guilt stricken teenager glared down at his hand. Why **didn't** he tell Erza? Or the old man? Why didn't he just say **something**! Why did he have to hide it? He could have avoided** all of this**. He could have **saved** her. Why didn't the just **say** something?!_

_Of course he knew the answer to that. He didn't want to disappoint Lucy. He didn't want to break her trust. He fell victim to her pleading, battered, watery eyes. Natsu didn't want Lucy to feel like she couldn't go to him. He didn't want Lucy to feel betrayed._

_But look where it had gotten them._

_He was laying in a hospital bed, arm totally useless, abdomen severely screwed up. And Lucy was stuck to a machine, her chest having to be cut open and barely hanging on to her life._

_Having Lucy feel betrayed and gaining back her trust was much better than the situation they were both in._

_He didn't know what to say or where to start. Gajeel had pretty much laid it on him, chastising him and going off on him where he deserved it. He knew that if gray would have stuck around, he would have definitely joined in with Gajeel and make him feel worse than he already was._

_And having Erza there being as silent as the darkness he was succumbed in earlier was disheartening._

_"I'm sorry, Erza." Natsu knew apologizes wouldn't fix this. He knew that they were just mere words._

_"I should have said something. I **know**. I should have." The pyro muttered. "But Lucy didn't want you guys to know. She was so **against** it. If you would have seen her, I think- I think you would have felt what I felt." The guilt stricken teenager scoffed. "What am I saying? Of course you would have done something!"_

_His scarlet companion had still not said a word._

_"She was afraid, you know? Not for herself. For us. For me. She was afraid that her the damn bastard was going to find her and hurt not only her, but me, you, all of us. That's why she didn't want me to let you all know. Luce knew that we all would have killed the damn bastard. And she was afraid of us getting hurt." He scoffed again, a glare plastered on his battered face._

_"She was willing to go back to the damn bastard just so we wouldn't get hurt. She was willing to continue being hurt, assault, damaged for the next two years. She was willing to wait until she was 18. Can you believe her? Can you believe Lucy?"_

_He recalled every memory, every conversation the two had about what she was going to do with her situation. Natsu could still hear her voice in the back of her mind as she profoundly argued against any of his suggestions. He could still see her clear as day._

_"We ended up in this situation not only because of your absolute stupidity and nativity, but because of Lucy's idiotic sense of selflessness."_

_Natsu turned to Erza with shocked eyes. Her eyes were harsh and painfully cold. He cringed inwardly at the fixed features of her well framed face._

_"Lucy could prevented all this long ago when the abuse had started. She most likely hid the truth because she had just lost her mother and didn't want to lose her father. But her self-sacrifice was a foolish and senseless mistake."_

_"Now wait a minu-"_

_She cut him off with an iron tight gaze. Natsu immediately hushed and decided it was better that he didn't say anything._

_"Had she really cared and trusted us, she would have told us to prevent this type of suffering." The pink haired boy's eyes went wide. "Lucy had to know that something of this sort could have happened, yet she foolishly hoped that it wouldn't and didn't think of any of the consequences of her decisions. She didn't think about our feelings. She was being selfish. She was only thinking for herself."_

_He glared at Erza, hearing enough. "Lucy is not selfish! She was only thinking of us! It wasn't right for her to hide this from us, but that doesn't make her selfish!"_

_"Natsu. Your love for Lucy has made you blind." Natsu growled at Erza's comment. "Lucy's actions were noble, but she was **selfish**. She didn't think about our feelings or our emotions. She didn't think of how worrisome or taxing or emotionally exhausting it would be for us to sit here and wait for her to possibly **never wake up**."_

_His eyes went wide._

_"She didn't think about how we would feel seeing her connected to tubes and wires and watching as a machine breathed for her. She didn't think about the repercussions of her decisions. She didn't think about our feelings for a split second."_

_The injured boy looked down at his hands. As much as he hated to admit it, Erza was absoutely right. She didn't think about their feelings at all. Lucy didn't know how **hard** it was for him to see her so broken. The blonde had **no idea** of the nightmares he suffered or how he woke up in the middle of the night screaming Lucy's name. She had no idea how **scared** he was that night. She had no idea of **anything**._

_"And you." He cringed, waiting for the lecture from Erza._

_"I have known you for almost the entirety of my life, Natsu." She paused. "And in all those years, you have proven to be the most reliable. You constantly proved over and over that no matter the cost, you would never let a friend down. That you would never let anything happen to your nakama for as long as you lived."_

_"But this was not one of those times, Natsu."_

_He felt a tight knot form at his throat. Erza didn't sound mad, or upset, nor enraged._

_"I've always believed that you were a lot more intelligent than you showed. I always believed that when i came to distinguished right from wrong, you would know. I always believed in you to make the correct choices in life."_

_It was the same hollow feeling that was left after his guardian had left him._

_"But you let your emotions and feelings cloud you. Instead of making the correct choice, you let your feelings guide you in the wrong direction. And therefore, you made a dire mistake that has crippled you and left Lucy, our nakama, our **family**, essentially dead."_

_She was disappointed in him._

_She was far more disappointed in him than anyone had ever been in his life._

_And that crushed him._

_Natsu heard her get up and head for the door. He looked down at his hands which felt incredibly heavy. He felt like he carrying the blood of his blonde haired best friend. He felt like he was the one on the other side of the gun, who pulled the trigger._

_"I know you never meant for any of this to happen, Natsu. I know you tried to protect her. I know that you wished you could do more. i know, Natsu." She stilled and remained silent for a moment. "I know you're suffering. I know you're not only in physical pain, but you're also wounded emotionally. I know what Gajeel, Levy, and I have said scarred you."_

_Natsu continued looking down at his hands, the guilt of his mistakes eating him alive._

_"I still **care** for you, Natsu. You are my family and I am **happy** to see you safe and alive."_

_With that, Erza disappeared. The door was shut behind her._

_He was alone now._

_And the room was silent._

_He had never felt so alone in his life._

_He was constantly surrounded by people. His friends. His teachers. Lucy. And now, he felt as if all that had been ripped away from him_

_And the silence never seemed so loud._

_He could hear the screams and shouting. He could hear the gun shots ringing in his ears. He could hear the sickening laugh of the vile older man._

_It was all his fault. It was all his fault._

_He should have been the one in the coma. He should have been the one hanging in life or death. He should have been the one._

_It should have been him._

_It was all his fault._

**A/N: I a a terrible, terrible person. I have lied not only twice, but t_hree _times to you all. This part was a lot onger than I had anticipated and there was no way that this part and the ending I had planned we're going to be a reasonable sized chapter. It was just going to be _too _much. I don't like to overwhelm my readers with so much in one chapter and I know how tiring and annoying it can be. So I have split this chapter up. **

**I'm SO SO SORRY. I know you guys we're expecting an ending (which I was too) and I have disappointed. I think I'm just going to stop saying that the next chapter is the last because it never ends up being. *sigh* I truly am sorry if I got your hopes up about this ending. That was never my intention.**

**Anyway, this chapter was probably the hardest one I've had to write. There was just so much angst and so much emotion that it really was emotionally taxing on me. Not to mention how many times I have written a certain part of the chapter because it didn't seem _right_. Not to mention, it was really difficult to write an angsty Natsu, Makarov, and Erza. I don't think I got Makarov quite right and I think I may have made Natsu too emotional and Erza, I jus don't know. I'm feeling insecure about them right now.**

**Brownies and cookies to those who have caught onto the manga refernces in this story. For the first person to name each line I've used from the manga, I will do a special request for you. Maybe that will make up for incompetence!**

**Other than your rage and anger, I would like to know how this chapter came out. Is there anything I should go back and fix? Any particular scene that touched you? Anything you liked or didn't like? Please let me know! Reviews and cristiscm are encouraged! **

**Until next time!**

**-Dark Waffle**


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